


The Promise

by cjmoliere



Series: OUAT Underworld [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 05:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15187730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjmoliere/pseuds/cjmoliere
Summary: A Once Upon a Time Twist on the Underworld Saga. The vampires and lycans have been at war for centuries with treachery on both sides and for the Death Dealer Belle a face from her past forces her to reconsider her role in the bloody feud.





	1. Chapter 1

The present

 

A blue BMW raced down a dark stretch of road with a pack of lycans in hot pursuit. One of the lycans leaped onto the car and smashed the windshield with its massive claws. The driver of the car slammed on the breaks and brought the car to a screeching halt, throwing the lycan onto the ground. The driver then stomped on the gas pedal and sped forward crushing the beast under the tires. As other the lycans closed in, the driver brought the car to a stop again and stepped out and pulled two fully loaded Barettas from their holsters, opening fire, killing two of the lycans. Four more appeared from behind the trees, snarling as they approached. One of them jumped on the driver, teeth bared and ready to deliver the death bite when a silver dagger was thrust into its skull. The driver rolled out from under the dead lycan and advanced on the other three, emptying the Barettas of the silver bullets inside their magazines. The guns were turned upside down and the magazines ejected and two more loaded in a matter of seconds. The driver was careful to aim for their vital organs so that they couldn’t dig them out and heal themselves as they had in the past.

Belle was a Death Dealer; part of an elite group of vampires charged with finding and exterminating the lycan scrounge. There were two types of lycans: progressives and primitives. The progressives were humans that were turned into lycans through the bite of another and could Change at will. The primitives were either humans that could only Change when the moon was full or their animalistic impulses were so strong that they could not take human form again. Of the two, the primitives were the easiest to kill since they never took human form. Progressives were much more difficult to spot since they could conceal themselves among humans. For this Death Dealer, the hunt was personal. The lycans had killed her lover and made her lose their child, torn him apart and feasted on his remains like the filthy animals they were, not caring that he had been one of them. In their minds Rumplestiltskin was a traitor to his kind by loving her, his natural enemy and she would kill every last one of them to make certain no one else endured the centuries of heartache over losing a loved one as she had.

She and Rumplestiltskin had kept their love a secret, difficult to do when she was the daughter of Maurice, one of the three Elders, the first born vampires who ruled over the coven for one hundred years at a time. Her father was in hibernation along with Malcolm and Cora now served as ruling elder. In two weeks’ time Cora would awaken Malcolm and it would be his turn to rule, her father’s to follow in one hundred years. When the last lycan fell to the ground Belle returned her guns to their holsters got back in her car and drove back to the mansion where her branch of the coven lived under the command of Gaston, the man chosen by Maurice to rule their branch of the coven until he was awakened from hibernation. Belle despised Gaston. She found him crude and conceited and his constant harassment of her wore on her nerves. He was an ambitious vampire who believed that making the daughter of one of the Elders his bride would increase his own chances for advancement in the hierarchy but she knew it would never happen. The Elders wouldn’t stand for a fledgling usurping their authority and would gladly bleed him dry or expose him to the sun if they learned of it.

“Belle, Gaston’s looking for you,” said Ella as Belle walked past her.

“Tell him to take a number!” Belle threw over her shoulder and headed for the armory. She wasn’t in the mood for him now or any other day but knew she would have to face him sooner or later. The best trick she had for avoiding him was keeping busy and there was plenty to keep her busy in the armory…conversing with Marco about new weapons they could use or shooting the hell out of the targets lined up along the stone walls, pretending they had either Gaston’s face or the faces of the lycans who’d killed her Rumple. She wished she’d known who they were…if she had, she would find them and tear them apart; make them suffer before they died.

Miles away, beneath the city streets a large crowd was gathered in a circle in a room cheering while two lycans engaged in combat, attacking each other with their massive claws and biting.

“What the hell is going on in here?!” a voice boomed from the doorway. The crowd broke up as a man walked up to the two combatants and glared at them while they transformed from lycans back into men. They both bowed their heads in shame and turned to face their furious leader. “Well?” he pressured.

“We were…sparring sir.”

“That is not sparring. That is carrying on for the sake of entertainment. How do you expect our species to earn respectability when you behave like the animals we are thought to be? We are not animals! Now clean yourselves up. As for the rest of you, get out on patrol!” he hollered.

The men ran out of the room without any arguments. It was wiser not to argue with their leader. Unlike the rest of them, he was a pureblood, the child of two lycans, a primitive and a progressive and in a sense the father of them all. It was his bite, given centuries ago, that transformed them from humans into lycans. The purpose was to create a race of slaves that would guard and protect the vampires during the daylight hours from the primitives. For many years the lycans labored in silence until he decided it was time for them to assert their independence. They escaped their prison and fled into the woods. He however, would return to the vampire fortress for the one thing that had been forbidden to him; his lover, the vampire Belle who was condemned to death by sunlight exposure for loving him.

He could still hear her screams as the sun’s rays burned her flesh while he lay chained on the floor in a prison cell nearby, being beaten repeatedly with silver coated whips, her screams fueling his rage and giving him the strength to free himself from his chains but it was too late. His beloved Belle was gone…as was the child she carried. That day the lycans stormed the vampire fortress and nearly eradicated the entire species. The ones that survived relocated to another land but the hunt was on and for the lycan leader Rumplestiltskin it was personal. He and his brothers would hunt down and make every last vampire suffer as they’d made his Belle suffer before they died.

He was sitting outside enjoying the night air when he heard a noise behind him. He turned his head and smiled when he saw Bae standing there. Bae was his right hand, the first lycan he’d created and the one he trusted above all others. His smile turned to a frown when he noticed a silver throwing star protruding from the young man’s side and yanked it out.

“I’m sorry Papa….I couldn’t get it,” Bae said sadly.

“It’s no matter. We’ll try again. It seems that the strength in this particular vampire coven comes from its women. Did you happen to catch the name of the Death Dealer you faced before she made you her dart board?”

“Emma. She’s a vicious one but I heard her leader’s even worse.”

“Then her leader is whose blood I will need.”

“Not the blood of an elder like Cora? Isn’t that what we made that deal with Gaston for?”

“No. The strongest hybrid must be created from the strongest vampire and this mysterious female Death Dealer is exactly what I need. I will have her blood….and I will have my revenge,” Rumple vowed.


	2. Chapter 2

The past

 

Once there lived three princes, one named Malcolm, one named Albert and another named Archibald. They were the heirs to a small kingdom in Hungary. One night while they were walking through the forest Malcolm and Albert were each attacked by a creature of the night. Albert was bitten by a wolf, Malcolm by a bat. Both boys carried within them a gene that mutated the virus transmitted by the animal bites and in turn mutated the boys themselves. Albert would become the first true lycan, his brother, a vampire. Albert would go on to infect others through his bite, creating thousands of lycans like him only the lycans could not control their impulses and roamed the land, killing the humans or turning them into their kind while Archibald simply vanished, never to be seen again. 

 

The carnage was too much, even for Malcolm and he could no longer fight them alone. He needed strong warriors for the task and the call of a desperate, dying man gave him the solution to his problem. He set out for the small kingdom of Avonlea and its dying ruler, Maurice. He offered the dying king a bargain, immortality for himself and his army in exchange for hunting down and killing the uncontrollable lycans of Albert’s pack. The dying king accepted the offer without a moment’s hesitation and the first vampire and Death Dealer coven was born. Unlike the lycans, the vampires were organized, creating a ruling hierarchy that would was not open to change and a firm set of rules all vampires would live by, the most important being that it was forbidden to mate outside your species and to kill your own kind. Punishment for breaking this most sacred oath of the covenant was exposure to sunlight. For centuries these rules were not broken and no one ever believed they would be…until they were born…two children, twenty years apart, purebloods of their species.

 

Speak only when spoken to, keep your eyes to the ground and do your work without complaint. Those were the words lycans had been forced to live by as long as they were enslaved to the vampires. They all knew the penalties if they dared to defy their masters, being tied to a pole and beaten into submission with whips coated with silver that would penetrate their wounds and cause them a great deal of pain. Their ability to change forms at will had already been taken away from them through the silver collars they wore around their necks. There was only one key that opened them and it was locked in the armory yet a slave longing for freedom would always find a means to escape.

 

Although he was born in captivity, Rumplestiltskin was a quiet soul, speaking only when spoken to, doing his work without complaint and always keeping his eyes to the ground. He was also a special one, the first human child born to lycan parents, highly intelligent and as fierce a warrior as any Death Dealer when he was permitted to fight and it was only against other lycans. They didn’t dare pit him against their own kind always kept him collared, fearing he would bring destruction far worse than anything Albert’s kin ever did down on them if he was allowed to take his true form. He was the coven’s resident blacksmith and tailor, providing the Death Dealers with both their weapons and their fighting armor, earning the vampires respect with both his skill and intelligence and although Maurice and the others respected him, they did not trust him enough to let him roam freely and the overseer of the lycan slaves, Zozo, despised him, referring to him as ‘the master’s dog’. He waited eagerly for the day when the blacksmith and tailor would fall from grace.

 

He was just putting the finishing touches on a new set of clothes for Belle, the leader of the strongest Death Dealer army when he heard the howling of lycans in the night, stalking their prey and that night their prey was Belle as she was the only Death Dealer out on patrol while the rest of them were secure behind the castle walls. He ran out of his workshop to the gates with a crossbow in hand where he spotted her riding up with dozens of lycans in pursuit, dispatching them with her sword when they attacked.

 

Belle was quite capable of taking care of herself in a fight but she was severely outnumbered. The other Death Dealers scrambled to action, putting on their armor, loading their crossbows and ballistas while he jumped onto the top of the wall and took aim. He only had three arrows, not enough to kill all of the lycans pursuing her but it would perhaps buy her some time until the Death Dealers could assist her. He breathed a sigh of relief when the ballistas shot out from inside the castle walls, burying themselves in the bodies of many of the lycans racing behind her and slowing down the others but there were three surrounding her. He fired two arrows, bringing down the two lycans on either side of her but there was a third behind her and he did not have a clean shot. Two Death Dealers raised the gates and Belle galloped through with the last lycan still following. He fired his last shot as the lycan jumped up to knock her off the horse. It fell to the ground in front of her horse. Rumple jumped down from his own position on the tower as she removed her helmet.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be weaving?” she asked coldly.

 

“A simple thank you would have sufficed,” he muttered as her father approached then quickly lowered his eyes.

 

“Belle, my girl, where are your manners? This lycan saved your life. Surely you can show a little gratitude.”

 

“I was doing just fine on my own,” Belle retorted. Maurice groaned and shook his head. His daughter had a stubborn streak that he’d been trying since the day she was born to break with no success.

 

“Tell me Rumple,” Maurice began, glancing over at the lycan. “Does it bother you to kill your own kind?”

 

“Not at all. They’re not like us. They’re beasts, nothing more,” he answered though inside he was angry. He was nothing like the creatures beyond the palace walls, nor did he ever want to be. The capacity to mutate into one of those beasts was rooted within him but unlike the rest of Albert’s kin, he was able to tame his inner beast through years of practice.

 

“I will take Philippe to the stables,” Belle informed her father and turned her horse.

 

“And we will have a discussion about this evening’s events,” Maurice said to her. While she was riding away he noticed the lycan’s eyes following her. He frowned. “As for you, if you want to keep your favored status among us, keep your eyes on the ground. Am I understood, lycan?”

 

“Yes, Master,” Rumple said quietly.

 

“Dispose of that,” Maurice commanded, gesturing to the body of the lycan that retook its human form only in death. Rumple grabbed a lit torch and set fire to it. It was the only way the vampires would allow lycans to be disposed of.

 

Belle was planning to take a much needed rest when she returned to her bedchamber and as she was about to dress for bed, her father walked into the room.

 

“You have missed another council meeting,” he admonished.

 

“I had other business to attend to,” she said. “I was on patrol.”

 

“And you should not have been! You are my daughter…and a council member. Why must you put yourself at such risk?”

 

“I am a warrior, Papa and I cannot sit idly by while our people are being slaughtered,” she argued.

 

“The Death Dealers will handle the lycans. You will remain within this castle’s walls and take your seat on the council. You are my only child and I will not lose you to those…beasts.”

 

She sighed. She’d tried to fulfill her council duties but the constant squabbling among the members, backstabbing and double crossing natures of its members wore on her nerves. There was far more loyalty amongst the Death Dealers themselves than the body that ruled them. Being on the council and one day an Elder were her father’s ambitions for her, not hers.

 

“There is a council meeting tonight and you will be in attendance,” he said firmly, leaving no room for argument. “Nor will you be taking any more risks with your life.”

 

“Yes, Papa,” Belle said submissively. He smiled and kissed her on her forehead and left the room. Once the door closed behind him, she removed her battle armor and changed into a simple cotton nightdress then sat down at her dresser to brush her hair. Her relentless pursuit of the lycans was not the only risk to her life she was taking. Tonight she was taking another….and this one would possibly condemn her to death by her own kind. Still, it was worth the risk. Every moment they had together was worth the risk.

 

Rumple was furious. The slaves had been put to work repairing walls of the fortress damaged by the primitive attacks and many of them were exhausted. One of the lycans fell to the ground and Zozo took out his whip, striking him across the back.

 

"Get up!” he snarled and swung the whip back to deliver another blow when a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.

 

“Enough!” he cried.

 

“Back off dog!” Zozo growled.

 

“No!”

 

“Then you can die like one!” He shoved Rumple away from him and drew his sword, backing the lycan against the stone wall and pressing the blade of his sword to his throat.

 

“Go on then, kill me and you’ll face your master’s wrath,” Rumple challenged.

 

Zozo glared at him and returned his sword to his scabbard. “One of these days dog he won’t be there to save you and I will enjoy breaking you!”

 

“Not if I break you first!” Rumple hissed.

 

The other lycans stared at him in amazement. No one else dared to stand up to the dreaded overseer yet this one never hesitated to do so. Once he was out of sight Zozo cracked his whip and ordered them all back to work, still the display of bravery by the lycan Rumple lingered in their minds.

 

All of the vampires were now asleep until sundown the next day. Rumple stole out into the courtyard and tore the grate off one of the drains and jumped down into it. The drain led to a series of tunnels and one of them would take him to his final destination, an abandoned watchtower outside the castle walls.

 

He knew he risked his life by going there but it was worth the risk. Every moment he had with her was worth the risk. He heard a noise behind him and turned about to see her in the doorway wearing only a nightdress and her cloak.

 

“Belle,” he whispered and pulled her into his arms, kissing her passionately.

 

“Rumple,” she moaned into his mouth as she returned his kiss. He backed her against the stone wall and pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, his fangs gently grazing her skin yet never piercing it. He wouldn’t dare defile her in such a beastly manner yet it was the beast within him that hungered for her body just as hers hungered for him.

 

For so long he’d been nothing to her but just another lycan slave and she nothing more to him than the daughter of his master, speaking to each other only when necessary, trading quips and insults in public and in private. The possibility that they would one day become lovers never entered their minds until one evening when she walked into his workshop to request a new breastplate for her battle armor and surprised him while he was bathing himself with nothing more than a bucket of water and a washcloth. She’d only seen men partially unclothed as most of the lycan slaves wore only breeches and vests, Rumplestiltskin being the only exception. He never wore anything less than a tunic and black leather breeches and she’d assumed he never bathed like the rest of his brethren. She knew the proper thing to do would be to look away or leave yet her curiosity had been aroused as was her body.

 

Sensing another presence in his workshop, Rumple dropped his washcloth and spun around to see Maurice’s daughter standing there, studying him.

 

“My lady!” he gasped and grabbed his breeches, pulling them on. “W…What are you doing here?”

 

“I…I was coming to ask you if you would fashion me a new breastplate for my armor and this time I would prefer it to be much stronger,” she said quickly, unable to conceal the flush in her pale cheeks. “Have it ready for me as quickly as possible,” she added and fled the workshop.

 

From that day on, the image of his body unclothed never left her mind. She cursed herself for her unclean thoughts. He was a lycan….a slave, inferior to her and she found herself wanting him more than any of her own kind. Now it was she who needed to keep her eyes to the ground for if she met his eyes she feared what he would see in them and what he would think of her. After several weeks of successful efforts to avoid him, she was forced to go to his workshop and pick up her new breastplate. As she bent over to pick it up from his worktable, he reached out and took her hand.

 

“You overstep your bounds lycan,” she said coldly.

 

“I am always told to keep my eyes to the ground in your presence, my lady yet you keep yours to the ground when you are in mine. Why is that?” he questioned. He had his suspicions as to why and it was difficult for him to keep his eyes to the ground when he saw her since that day. He was stunned by her interest in him, knowing what he was and there were far more attractive lycans and vampires for her to admire. What made him stand out? He wasn’t a pup anymore and not handsome like some of the others.

 

“I do not. Now release my hand before I decide you no longer have need of it,” she threatened.

 

“Then my lady, you will have to find yourself another tailor and blacksmith,” he said.

 

“Let go!”

 

“Not until you answer my question.”

 

“I said…..Let….Go…” she hissed.

 

“Just answer my question, Belle.”

 

“You will address me as ‘my lady’….lycan!”

 

“Have I done something to displease you…or offend you?”

 

“Your very existence offends me,” she sneered. “You…and the rest of those animals you call your brothers!”

 

He stood up and leaned over the table, a scent in the air that he recognized from the books he’d smuggled into his workshop to read about her species. It was the scent of a woman needing to mate and he felt himself responding its call.

 

“Answer my question, Belle,” he pleaded.

 

Her last bit of control shattered. She yanked her hand out of his and cupped his face in her palms, kissing him roughly. “Now do you understand?” she demanded angrily. “You are my inferior…a slave…an animal…and still I want you!” She backed away from him and started to leave when he took her arm and spun her around so that he was holding her, their lips inches apart.

 

“You are my mistress…and you fascinate me,” he murmured.

 

“This cannot happen. They would have you torn to pieces and fed to your own kind,” she cried.

 

“And they would chain you to a post and have you burned to death by the sun’s rays.” He reached out and caressed her cheek.

 

“But now, having you hold me and the way you’re looking at me…I know I should just walk away but I can’t. I’ve never felt like this before.”

 

“Neither have I,” he admitted. “We’re not as different as your peers tend to believe, Belle. We’re both descendants of animals….me from a wolf, you from a bat only my kind takes animal form when we wish to and we are looked down upon for doing so but it’s the only defense we have when we’re treated like we’re nothing but dirt under your boots.”

 

“I’ve hurt you so much with my coldness,” Belle said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

 

“Say my name, Belle,” he pleaded.

 

She smiled. “It’s quite a mouthful.”

 

He chuckled. “Well then, you can use the short version, can’t you?”

 

“Rumple,” she murmured, cupping his face in her hands and this time her kiss was softer, gentler and with that kiss, everything between them changed though they both knew they had to carry on as if everything was still the same in the presence of others and took what opportunities they had to be alone whenever they could yet longed to find a place where no one would be able to interrupt them during their private moments. Discovering the passageway to the neglected watchtower had been like a gift from the gods to Rumple. Before she went out on patrol and been attacked by the primitives, he’d asked her to meet him there and that night she was going to do the one thing no vampire would ever dare attempt: she would mate with a lycan.

 

She wrapped her thighs around his waist, her nightdress bunched around her hips. She could feel his arousal through his leather breeches but she was not terrified as most of her vampire sisters had been for their first mating. Some of the vampires she’d been told, were not gentle at all but her lycan lover was not like them. This was not his first time mating, she knew that, but it was the first time he was doing it of his own free will and not so that the vampires could attempt to breed more slaves from him.

 

He carried her over to the bed he made for them out of straw and some old blankets from his workshop, telling her over and over that she deserved better for her first time while some of the males of her own kind took their mates wherever they chose and cared not how they felt about it, always in a hurry to satisfy themselves but he was patient with her, restraining himself from taking her until she was ready.

 

His past experiences with mating left him feeling as unclean as he would be after days of not bathing and hollow inside. He’d endured it to avoid the whip or having silver coated arrows lodged in his back to prevent him from Changing and causing him constant pain but in the arms of the beautiful young vampire he felt whole again.

 

“Belle, if I found a way to escape, would you come with me?” he asked her later while she lay beside him.

 

“Escape? How?” she asked.

 

“With this.” He reached under the straw and took out a small key.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I can take this damned collar off,” he replied.

 

“Rumple! Do you realize what will happen if you’re caught with it! You’ll be beaten...and worse!” she cried. “You can’t!”

 

“So you would prefer it if I stay here as your pet!?” he asked angrily and rolled away from her. He stood up, pulled his breeches on and turned his back to her.

 

“No! How can you think that of me…now?” she asked. “I love you.”

 

He spun around. “Then why are you against me wanting my freedom?”

 

“Because we both know they’ll hurt you if you’re caught and seeing them torture you would shatter my heart,” she wept. She walked over to him and laid her head on his shoulder. “I just…wish there was some other way…”

 

“There is no other way, Belle. I must either escape or die in captivity. And you’re just as much a prisoner here as I am only your chains are different from mine and less painful.”

 

“And my love is just another chain for you,” she said sadly.

 

“It’s one I’d wear willingly, my sweetheart.”

 

“But at the cost of your freedom?”

 

“I’d give my life for you if I had to.”

 

“As would I…for you.”

 

Deep inside both feared their lives would be the price they would pay for their freedom.


	3. Chapter 3

The present

 

Belle stood in front of a small stone bust and fired all the rounds from one of her Barettas into it, completely obliterating the face. She heard a whistle behind her and faced her most loyal soldier, Emma.

 

"Who pissed you off this time, Belle?"

 

"Who hasn't is more like it," Belle grumbled. "I had a dozen lycans on my ass during the drive home and Gaston trying yet again to come onto me when I've told him a million times I want left alone. I don't love him. I will never love him! I don't even want him! If he wants to get laid bad enough, why doesn't he go fuck Regina or even Zelena."

 

"We all know the lycans are no match for the Dark One," Emma said confidently. Belle earned the title when she made her first strike against the lycans after the death of her beloved Rumple. She'd hacked them all to pieces with her sword, shown them no mercy as they'd shown her lover no mercy. Centuries later all the lycans feared facing the Dark One. She was their Grim Reaper. "As for Regina," Emma was saying. "She can't decide between Daniel and Robin. Me, I'd take Robin.

And Zelena…she'd screw anyone if it benefitted her."

 

Belle snorted. "Do we know who is leading this dog pack?"

 

"Yeah…and you're not gonna believe it Belle. It's him. Baelfire."

 

Belle ejected the magazine of her Baretta and loaded a fresh one, firing another round of bullets into the marble statue. That particular name sent her into a murderous rage.

 

They turned him over to Baelfire…and he had him torn apart….then they feasted on the remains like the dogs they are….my Rumple. My love…betrayed by the one he trusted the most. He was supposed to be dead!

 

"Are…you…sure?" Belle asked through gritted teeth. "Gaston killed him….centuries ago. He had proof!"

 

"I don't know where Gaston got his proof Belle, but I saw the bastard living and breathing right here in Maine. Now he's walking around with one of my throwing stars in him but he's alive, I can assure you."

 

"Too bad you didn't take off his head!" Belle snarled. "But no matter….his head is mine! And then we'll find where the rest of his dogs are hiding and blow them off the face of this Earth!"

 

"Belle…"

 

"WHAT?!" Belle screamed when she heard Zelena's voice from the doorway. The other woman backed away in fear while Emma chuckled. The lycans weren't the only ones who feared the Dark One. She was even feared by her own kind.

 

"Gaston wants to see you. Now."

 

Belle fired off another shot with the Baretta that shattered the head of the bust and stormed out of the room behind Zelena. The terrified vampire led her charge down to the office Maurice used when he was the reigning Elder. It made Belle nauseous to see the fledgling lounging in her father's chair as if he owned it…and her.

 

"Cora's emissary will be here tonight and I'd like to have you at my side this evening."

 

"Not interested. Take Zelena."

 

"I want you, Belle."

 

"You've wanted me for two hundred years Gaston but you're never going to have me because I don't want you! I never have and I never will. Get it through your thick skull."

 

"You'll see things my way eventually," he said confidently.

 

"And hell will freeze over first," she retorted.

 

"It was what your father wanted."

 

"My father is in hibernation and need I remind you, for the millionth time that no one decides my fate but me! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important work to do than sitting around in a pretty dress and smelling all the bullshit coming out of your mouth."

 

"We're not done!"

 

"Oh, yes we are," she said firmly and sauntered out the door. Gaston slammed his fist down on the desk. "And you'd better get whatever damage you did to Papa's desk fixed before the next century or I'll gladly watch while he rips you to shreds!" she called back.

 

"Bitch," he hissed. She would see things his way soon enough. While he was still seething, his cell phone rang. "Yes? All right….I'll be there in about half an hour."

 

"…He'll be there," Bae said after he disconnected his call. Rumplestiltskin pushed a button on the wall of his office and revealed a safe. He entered the combination and took out several guns, handing one to Bae.

 

"Make sure the rest are distributed among the patrol units," Rumple instructed. "And tell them not to waste ammunition. I won't be able to get more from August for another week."

 

"What is it?" Bae asked, ejecting the magazine from his gun. Inside were bullets that had a blue glow to them.

 

Rumple smirked. "Sunlight, my boy! Ultraviolet ammunition. One shot of this and those bloodsuckers will burn to a crisp."

 

"Gotta love modern technology."

 

"Indeed," Rumple murmured and tucked one of the guns into the waistband of his jeans. "Tell me a bit more about this…Dark One."

 

"It's just like I said, Papa. She's the most vicious Death Dealer and they don't just call her the Dark One…they call her the Grim Reaper because no one she's faced has ever lived to tell about it. No one. Bitch probably tallies her kills on her bedroom wall. And you want to inject yourself with her blood to become a hybrid?"

 

"If she's as difficult to defeat as you claim, then yes. But I would have one advantage over her. I would be half lycan and half vampire but stronger than both species. And once I am, I'll tear the bloodsucking bitch apart and feast on her entrails along with the rest of them."

 

He pulled a rose shaped medallion out from underneath his shirt and cupped it in his palm. "Nothing will stop me from having my revenge. Not even a bloodthirsty bitch who thinks she's the Grim Reaper. She'll meet her match in me!" he snarled.

 

Belle parked her car in the alley behind a seedy bar called The Rabbit Hole. The lycans she hunted centuries ago lived underground and they still did. It was nice to see that some things about the dogs hadn't changed. They deserved to live in the sewers like the rats they were. She pulled out her Barettas and loaded two more magazines into them, storing the backups in the pockets of her overcoat. She also had her silver throwing stars and daggers for when her bullets ran out. Her sword was at home. She hadn't carried it in fifty years. The weapons of today did more damage to her targets and she was satisfied with that. She rolled down the window, pleased when she caught a familiar scent in the air. A lycan. Even though they'd evolved somewhat over the centuries one thing stayed the same. They could not hide their scent from her. Centuries ago that scent reminded her of nights of passionate lovemaking in the arms of her Rumple. Now it reminded her of her pain…and her desire for revenge.

 

Rumple was walking to his Cadillac when he caught the scent of a female vampire. He smiled, thinking that as clever as this so called Dark One was, she was not able to mask her scent from him. Centuries ago he loved that scent for it reminded him of his darling Belle. Now it only served as a reminder of what he'd lost…

 

Belle climbed out of her car and started following the scent. It led her to a black Cadillac but when she looked around she couldn't see anyone. As she was about to fire her Barettas a glowing object whizzed past her and embedded itself in the door of the car. When she turned around to look at it, she screamed, feeling her face burning. She dived behind the car to escape the shattered bullet's harmful rays. A bullet….with ultraviolet ammunition! Who among those dogs was clever enough to design such a deadly weapon? It created a serious problem for the Death Dealers….for the vampire race in general.

 

"Sunlight as a weapon, dearie!" a male voice taunted.

 

"Come out and face me you dog bastard!" she growled.

 

"Oh, what's the matter? Is the Dark One afraid of a little blue bullet? I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I was expecting a bit more from you."

 

"Come on out and I'll give you a show you'll never forget when I gut you…dog!" Belle challenged.

"With those little silver bullets? I can dig them out with my hand tied behind my back."

 

"You think so? Not when I pelt your heart with them…fucker!" She could still smell the lycan but she couldn't see him.

 

"You must get all your kills with your mouth because it's the foulest one I've ever heard," the lycan said with a chuckle.

 

"I'm just getting started. Really, let's just skip the idle chit chat and get down to it. Or are you too scared to face me?"

 

"I'm not scared of anything, bitch!" Rumple hissed from his position behind a pawn shop, his gun aimed at the woman. He could barely see her.

 

"Then prove it. Try and catch me," she taunted, turning and firing her Barettas in the direction of the pawnshop. Bullets pelted the side of the wall where he was standing, one of them barely missing his head.

 

"Fuck!" Rumple growled and he raised his gun to take another shot at her when a silver throwing star caught the sleeve of his leather jacket and pinned his arm against the side of the building. His gun dropped to the ground while he tried to dislodge it. He heard her laughing. He yanked the star out of his jacket and threw it back at her.

 

Belle hissed as the throwing star sliced her arm. "Son of a bitch! Okay asshole….I'm done playing with you!" She ran toward the pawnshop firing her guns. She only had two more magazines left and she was getting pissed off.

 

Christ, how many mags does she carry on her! Rumple thought as he ran down the alley behind the pawnshop she was quickly turning into a piece of Swiss cheese with her gunfire. He was trying to conserve his own bullets because they were so scarce, at least for now but all he needed was one clear shot to take the Dark One down…but not before he got what he needed from her and biting her was out of the question. He had his retractable blade under the sleeve of his jacket but it also was a close contact weapon. Also the days of crossbows and swords were over. His Belle would have enjoyed using today's weapons. They did more damage than the ones she used. He heard her ejecting the magazines from her guns and reload.

 

Both of them were grateful they'd chosen an abandoned town to inhabit so that their blood feud could carry on with no interference from the humans. It wasn't so easy in the past and both clans had to scramble to cover up the evidence.

 

Rumple spotted an abandoned blue BMW and got in, relieved when he discovered the keys were in the ignition. He didn't have the patience to hotwire it. He started the car up and sped off.

 

"You….you prick!" Belle yelled when he drove past her. She aimed her Barettas at the rear window and opened fire. She ran over to the Cadillac and got in. "Fuckin car's about as old as I am!" she complained when she started the engine and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal. Either the dog had the engine modified or the antique actually had some power to it because she caught up with the lycan and sideswiped him.

 

"You're scratching up my car bitch!" Rumple said angrily as he tried to swerve out of the way. The Death Dealer slowed down and moved into the lane behind him. "Ohhh you better not even think about it, dearie…."

 

She rammed the car hard. He slammed on the brakes and the two cars collided. He jumped out of the BMW and fired his gun at the windshield of the Cadillac.

 

Belle ducked down as another UV round struck the windshield. She wanted to find out who gave those dogs the idea to harness sunlight as a weapon and rip them to shreds, suspecting it had to be one of her own. She heard more bullets strike the windshield and dived into the backseat, climbing out one of the doors and running into the woods.

 

Rumple tucked the gun back into the pocket of his jeans and took off running after the woman, using her scent to track her just as she was using his to track him. Her scent was the strongest in the trees.

 

"You know…all these modern weapons are nice but I prefer an old fashioned fight, dearie," he said as he stood underneath one of the trees.

 

"Didn't your mama tell you it's not nice to hit girls? Ohhh…that's right…all your mama could do was eat shit and bark at the moon!" Belle taunted.

 

"Mother insults? Is that the best you can do?"

 

"Shut up you flea infested whelp of a…shit!" Belle cried when the tree branch she was sitting on gave out and she fell on top of the lycan, pinning him face down on the ground. Before she could finish him off with her Barettas or her dagger, he flipped them over so that he lay on top of her, both of them gasping in shock when they finally saw each other's faces.

 

"Belle….!"

 

"Rumple….!"


	4. Chapter 4

I held you tight to me, you slipped away  
You promised to return to me and I believed, I believed

After the night he died I cried my tears until they dried  
But the pain stayed the same, I didn't want him to die all in vain  
I made a promise to revenge his soul in time  
I'll make them bleed down at my feet

~ Within Temptation – The Promise ~

 

The Past

The vampires used the supply and demand system with the nobles of the land they inhabited. They would protect the people from the lycans in exchange for ownership of their silver mines. Some of the nobles, however, were having their doubts about Maurice’s army’s ability to keep the lycans at bay, especially since there’d been an increase in the number of attacks in recent months. One of the barons was supposed to be visiting the castle along with a wagon full of slaves that would be turned into lycans upon their arrival.

Rumple was in his workshop working on a new set of throwing stars for Belle when she walked in wearing her battle armor. He frowned. All day he sensed that something terrible would happen to her on her next patrol.

“Belle, don’t go out tonight,” he pleaded.

“Not you too, Rumple!” she cried.

“Your father’s right. You should stay here…safe.”

“I can take care of myself. Both of you seem to have forgotten that!” she said angrily.

“I know you can. It’s just….I haven’t been able to shake this feeling something’s going to go wrong and I don’t want you in the middle of it.”

“Rumple, I’ll be fine. I have my best men with me.” she assured him. “And I have the man I love watching me from the top of the wall. What have I to fear?” she asked in an attempt to ease his mind.

“My brave Belle,” he said softly. “Too brave for your own good sometimes,” he added, taking her in his arms and kissing her.

“Rumple…someone might…” she protested yet she didn’t pull away either. Now both of them were being too brave for their own good. Any moment someone could walk in on them and the sight of them locked in a passionate embrace would be enough to send either of their species into a feeding and killing frenzy. Fortunately no one knew of their nightly trysts in the watchtower though Belle was having a more difficult time getting away to see her lover now that her father was having her watched by August, the smarmy archivist of the coven. She knew he wanted his own seat on the High Council but its members didn’t die often enough for a need of a replacement and if he learned of their secret he would attempt to use it to blackmail her into giving up her own seat. As much as she despised her own position in the council, she didn’t feel he deserved a place on it either.

She broke their kiss when she heard someone approaching outside his workshop and moved away from him so that she was standing beside the door while he returned to his worktable.

“Belle, I come with orders from your father that you are to return to your bedchamber,” August informed her when he walked into the workshop.

 

“Baron Gremlos and his family are in need of strong escorts and my team is the strongest of all. We will escort them here and I’ll not hear another word about it,” Belle said firmly.

“You would disobey him…again?” he asked incredulously.

“I will. Now out of my way you poor excuse for a fledgling!” Belle snapped and shoved the man aside while Rumple made a vain attempt to conceal his amused grin. The archivist glared at him.

“You might want to show me a little more respect, lycan…unless you want her ladyship’s father to know just what goes on between the two of you in that watchtower at night,” he threatened.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rumple said calmly though inside he was terrified. They’d been so careful!

 

“Oh, I think you do. You’re a bold one, Rumplestiltskin, playing the stud for one so high above you. What are you hoping to get out of it, hmmm? A place on the council perhaps? Well you can forget it. That seat’s going to be mine if she knows what’s good for her.”

Rumple grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “You threaten her again and no one is going to stop me from tearing you apart, bloodsucker, collar or no collar!” he snarled, the scent of the vampire’s fear awakening his inner beast. There was nothing he wanted to do more than rip him to shreds and feast on his carcass. “Now, do we understand each other?”

The vampire nodded. Rumple removed his hands and pushed him away from. “Get out!”

“You’ll find it more to your benefit to have me as a friend, lycan, rather than an enemy.” the archivist pointed out before he left. Rumple slammed his fist down on the wooden table. Now it was only a matter of time before their secret was out.

Out in the forest Belle attempted to dismiss Rumple’s fears as those of an overprotective lover but the odd silence of the night left room for doubt. The primitives would pick up the scent of the humans and the desire to feed. As the baron’s carriage approached along with the wagon filled with the new candidates for the slave population Belle ordered her soldiers to form a perimeter around the carriage and wagon. The trip back to the castle would be a short one, and without incident she hoped.

The silence of the night was interrupted by a howl that echoed through the forest and into the castle where Rumple dropped the garment he was weaving and ran outside. In the air he caught the scent of hunger…both for flesh and blood….

“Belle!” he moaned, his inner beast struggling to break to the surface to protect his mate but the collar’s poisonous silver would not allow him to let his beast emerge. He would have to protect her as a man. He grabbed his crossbow and loaded it.

“You have to reinforce them!” he cried to one of the commanders of another Death Dealer regimen. The man laughed.

“You don’t give me orders, dog!”

“I don’t give a damn if I don’t or not. They’ll die out there, you fool!” he shouted while the soldier and his companions laughed.

Zozo came up behind him and shoved him, confiscating his crossbow. “Get back to work, dog or I’ll give you a reminder just what your place is in this castle!”

I know where my place is, you bastard and it’s with my mate! He growled and punched the overseer in the face then ran into the stables; several stunned Death Dealers chasing after him. He leaped onto one of the horses and burst out of the stables, grabbing a sword from one of the Death Dealers before it had a chance to attack him. Other lycans paused in their work again stunned to see another brazen act of defiance from the normally obedient Rumplestiltskin. The regiment of Death Dealers mounted their horses and charged after him.

“What is going on?” Maurice demanded angrily with August at his side.

“The lycan Rumplestiltskin has escaped, my lord.” Zozo said with a smirk.

“WHAT?!” the elder barked. “I’ll have him whipped for this. Don’t just stand there you fools. Get after him! And where is my daughter?”

“She….she is escorting the baron to the castle, my lord. I…I gave her your orders…”

At that moment Maurice didn’t know who he was more furious with….his daughter for her stubbornness or the lycan for his bold betrayal. No longer would Rumplestiltskin enjoy his lofty position in the castle. No, he would join the rest of the worthless dogs…after he was given a reminder of who his betters were. He returned to the castle to don his own battle armor and moments later rode out along with the other Death Dealers to put an end to this defiance by the two people he cared for the most. He didn’t understand what had gotten into them but he was determined to find out.

Belle and her troops were surrounded and outnumbered in a matter of minutes, all of them thrown from their horses by a pack of primitives unlike any she’d ever encountered before. She dispatched several of them with her sword only to find herself surrounded by more. Two of her soldiers were already dead, torn apart by a group of lycans while others feasted on the remains.

Oh Rumple….why didn’t I listen to you? she thought sadly. He’d sensed what was going to occur that night….it was in his nature but he was nothing like the beasts she now faced. To her horror a group of primitives now advanced to the carriage that held the baron and his family. She and her surviving soldiers took off in pursuit.

On the wagon a young man named Baelfire took a minute or two to gather his courage. Any moment now the lycans would advance on him and his companions but he would not submit to death willingly. He knew he was being taken back to the castle to be turned into one of these beasts to serve the bloods that now fought to protect the nobles inside the carriage. While the other bloods could have cared less what happened to them, he sensed the woman did. Even as she fought off lycans at the carriage, her gaze would at times drift over to the wagon.

 

He grabbed the chain confining him to the wagon and got to work trying to free himself from it and he could see a pack of the beasts approaching. The chain snapped as one of them jumped up to attack him then it fell to the ground with a sword buried in its skull and a man standing over it, a silver collar around his neck.

“You have the strength of a beast yourself,” the man said softly, tossing the sword at him and smiled then a cry of fear caught his attention. He ran in the direction of the cry, diverting the attention of the beasts from the chained slaves to himself. Bae was impressed. It was as if the man understood them and judging from the silver collar he’d seen around the man’s neck it was no surprise. Those were used to contain the beast inside men given the bite. He retrieved another sword from a fallen soldier as he ran.

Belle had little time to grieve her failure to protect the baron and his family from the slaughter when she found herself trapped inside a tunnel without her sword underground dug by the beasts days earlier it seemed to ambush them all from below. They’d underestimated the primitives. They were becoming more intelligent, more organized as they aged.

Belle cried out when one of the beasts advanced on her in the tunnel. She was stunned when she saw the blade of a sword break through the earth and bury itself in the beast’s skull.

“Belle!” she heard a familiar voice call out and a hand reach down into the tunnel.

“Rumple!” she cried out and grasped his hand in hers. He pulled her out of the tunnel and held her against him protectively, frowning when he saw a bloody gash in her side. She was about to assure him she was fine when she felt dizzy. She fell to the ground beside him.

“Belle!”

“Rumple…get out of here….please…” she begged.

 

“No. Not without you!”

 

A pack of the lycans approached them, blood from their other kills dripping from their fangs. Rumple retrieved Belle’s sword from where it fell and held it in front of him, his brown eyes narrowed to slits, issuing a silent challenge to the beasts.

Harm my mate and I will destroy you!

We answer to no one, human scum! the leader of the pack sent back to him.

Stand down or be destroyed!

Never. You have our scent but you are not one of us. You lack the courage.

Oh, do I?

He put the sword down and reached into the pocket of his breeches and took out the key to his collar.

“Rumple, no!” Belle screamed, knowing what it would mean if he were caught. He didn’t care about the risks. He would protect his mate no matter what the cost. The collar snapped loose. He threw it away and allowed his inner beast to take control, morphing his body into the appearance of a large black furred wolf. He threw back his head and let loose a loud roar that reverberated throughout the forest.

Belle’s breath caught in her throat as she gazed up at him in his animal form. She’d only seen part of the beast unleashed during their trysts in the tower where he brought her pleasure beyond her wildest dreams, never imagining the power and radiance he could exhibit in his true form.

Stand down or I will rip your throats out! he challenged again. Belle and the wagon full of slaves watched with amazement as the beasts began to back away, lowering their heads in submission before they retreated to the forest.

He glanced over at Belle, sadness in his eyes. Now she would not see the man she loved, but a beast…a monster. He expected to see disgust in her eyes, not the love and admiration he’d always seen in them from the moment they first realized their true feelings for each other. He’d proclaimed her his mate and she’d accepted.

He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and cried out as a silver coated arrow pierced his flesh, forcing him back into his human form. He fell to the ground as a second arrow buried itself in his thigh.

“Stop!” Belle cried to the Death Dealers that approached and knelt by her lover’s side, yanking the arrow out of his shoulder.

“What are you doing!” Maurice boomed, dismounting his horse and striding over to them. “Leave them!”

“Papa, you don’t understand…he was saving me!”

Maurice ignored her and hauled Rumple to his feet. “How dare you disobey me, you filthy dog!” he raged and punched him.

“Papa, please…stop!” Belle begged. “He meant no harm…”

“Who is your master, dog!? Who?” Maurice demanded, shaking him as he beat him with his fists. Rumple, weakened from the silver seeping into his wounds, was unable to fight back. Belle ran over to them and tried to pull her father off. Maurice pushed her back. “Restrain her!” he commanded two of the soldiers.

“Papa, please, stop!” Belle sobbed.

“You be silent. I will deal with you later!”

“No! What is wrong with you? What is wrong with all of you?! He saved my life and he deserves your gratitude, not to be beaten!” she screamed.

“Take her away…and take him... to the post,” Maurice commanded Zozo.

“With pleasure,” the overseer said gleefully, putting a set of manacles on Rumple’s wrists before he dragged the weary lycan away. Several Death Dealers lit torches and began burning the bodies of their fallen comrades and the carcasses of the beasts.

It was worth it, Rumple thought. Every bit of it.

He was chained to the posts with silver manacles around his wrists and ankles while his brethren and the vampires watched. He did not see Belle among the spectators and was grateful for that. He couldn’t bear the thought of her witnessing his humiliation.

“I treated you like a son and you have betrayed me. Now you will work like the rest of them, dog. Thirty lashes. Begin!” he commanded Zozo.

“Not the master’s dog any more, now are you?” he taunted and stepped behind him bringing the whip down hard on his bare back. He gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out as welt after welt appeared on his skin.

Up in her bedchamber, Belle stood by the window weeping quietly, hearing the crack of the whip and feeling every blow as if she herself were chained to the post. When she heard her lover cry out in pain she sank to the floor, hugging herself and burst into tears.

The other lycans watched the spectacle, admiration for their blood father, anger at the vampires. Several of them attempted to intervene and were held back by armed Death Dealers. One of the council members even suggested they call the punishment to a halt to avoid an uprising. Maurice was unmoved. He ordered Zozo to continue.

They tossed him into the dungeon with the others when it was over. Most of them preferred to avoid him but there were a few who showed concern for him, including the newly converted Baelfire who reached through the bars of his cell to give the injured lycan water by dipping a torn piece of his tunic into his bowl and squeezing water into the cell above Rumple’s parted lips. Moments later Rumple fell into an exhausted sleep.

Belle heard her bedchamber door open and sat up just as her father entered. He frowned when he saw her tear streaked cheeks.

“I am surprised by the compassion you’ve shown for this slave, Belle.”

“Weren’t you the one who told me I should show gratitude for someone who saved my life?” she asked stoically. “What of you? Are you not grateful I am still here thanks to his efforts?”

“I am. He still lives, does he not?”

“You’ll release him then?”

“He disobeyed me. He stays in prison and you will be at council this evening.”

“Yes, Papa.” she replied dejectedly.

Rumple’s wounds were slowly healing. He turned on his side and glanced over at the occupant of the cell next to him. It was the boy he’d rescued out in the woods earlier.

“Thank you,” Rumple murmured.

“You’re welcome. You’re brave…braver than any I’d ever seen before in the face of those beasts,” Bae said. “Are we….like them?”

“We’re lycans but they are pure animals, never able to take their human forms again. Primitives,” Rumple explained. “We all come from William…a human bitten by a wolf.”

“But they obeyed you,” Bae pointed out.

“Yes they did,” Rumple agreed.

“Rumple!”

He painfully rose to his feet when Belle ran over to the cell and pressed her face against the bars. She could not kiss him as she wanted to yet there was just enough room to take his hands in hers.

“Belle, go! You shouldn’t be down here. If they catch you…”

 

“I don’t care. I had to see you….this is all my fault. If I’d listened to you…”

“You’re a warrior, Belle. You always have been. You can’t deny that no more than I can deny the beast within me,” he said softly. “It was worth it…every bit of it but I can’t stay here.”

“How? My father….he will have you watched every minute now.”

“August.”

“What?”

“He knows Belle…but he hasn’t told Maurice yet. He wants your seat on the council.”

“He can have it. He can have everything if I can get you out of here!” Belle vowed.

“Be careful,” he cautioned her.

“I will,” she promised, bringing his hand to her lips and kissing it before she ran out of the dungeon in search of the archivist to make a deal.

It was feeding time for the prisoners. Pieces of rotting meat were dropped into the cells. The occupants of one of the cells started fighting while the others cheered. Rumple stood up in his cell, furious with his brothers’ lack of control.

“We are NOT ANIMALS!” he thundered, his voice echoing through the dungeons. “Do you enjoy being their entertainment, their pets? I do not. NO LONGER! How do you expect our species to survive if we continue to fight amongst ourselves? All this time I have served them and they have treated me like I was nothing more than dirt under their boots. I will not be treated like a slave or an animal ever again! We can spend the rest of our lives as slaves or we can be lycans….free ones!”

In the cell next to him Baelfire nodded in agreement. The others were silent. He sighed. Minutes later two Death Dealers came to the dungeon to retrieve him. They took him to a cell in one of the upper floors and locked him inside. Out of the corner of his eye he could see August waiting with a cloaked figure. He smiled when the hood was lowered and he was staring into the beautiful face of his mate. She unlocked the cell and ran inside. They threw their arms around each other and kissed.

“You only have a few minutes,” August cautioned.

“Your council seat….it’s all he wants?’ Rumple asked, indicating the archivist.

“Yes.”

“Baelfire…and some of the others…I cannot leave them here.”

“Rumple…there is more I need to tell you…the council….has decided you are to be executed tomorrow. You have to go at sunrise.”

“Belle….you will not be able to…”

“I will join you when I can,” she promised. “By the river…” They kissed again. “Three days, my love. After sunset.”

While he was being dragged back to his cell, he felt August slip something into his hand. It was the key he’d made to his collar. The archivist had gone back into the woods to retrieve it after a tense confrontation with a dagger wielding Belle.

It was almost sunrise when Zozo went down to the dungeons to check on the slaves, especially Rumple. He was going to enjoy watching that high handed dog die by the flames, his remains to be fed to his fellow dogs for their dinner. A fitting punishment. He was stunned when he reached Rumple’s cell and found it open.

“What the…?”

A large black furred beast came out of the shadows and pounced on the overseer and tore at his throat before he had the chance to scream, morphing back into the naked form of Rumplestiltskin, blood dripping from his mouth and down his chest.

“Are you with me?!” he bellowed. The others cheered. He freed Baelfire first and the two of them got to work releasing the others from their cells and their collars. There were not very many of the others feeling brave enough to join them but it was enough. They snuck down the halls but when they came across two Death Dealers guarding the dungeon’s entrance the alarm was raised. Now they would have to fight their way out.

Word reached the soldiers patrolling the walls and the ballistas were turned in the direction of the dungeon, firing harpoons into the wooden walls and preventing some of the lycans from escaping. It grieved him to leave some of his men behind but there was nothing Rumple or the others could do except fight their way back in once they were armed.

“We will come back!” he promised them and he and the others ran for the exit. The sun was rising. When they reached a stairway to the top of the tower in the courtyard two Death Dealers stepped out in front of them. Rumple rushed at them and threw them out the window, the vampires burning to dust in the morning sun. Soon the others joined him.

Maurice was furious. He stood in the guardhouse entrance, a crossbow in his hands, taking aim. Sensing his presence from a distance, Rumple turned around and the two men glared at each other, Rumple silently challenging him to take his best shot. He raised the crossbow to fire, feeling the sun’s rays scorching his flesh. He hissed in anger and retreated to the safety of the darkness. Rumple smiled and ran to catch up with the others.

Someone helped the lycan escape, Maurice was certain of it. At first his suspicions fell on August until the archivist produced the key he’d given him to the collars from the armory where the man claimed he kept it. There was only one other possibility…and her betrayal would hurt him worse than any other.

Belle was seated at her vanity table, her thoughts on her lover and the plans she had when they were at last reunited. When she turned about and found her father in the doorway she gasped and dropped the brush she was holding.

“I’ve startled you.”

“I…It’s all right, Papa.”

“I have not been fair to you. I have been so focused on my own anger at what Rumple has done that I’ve forgotten that you have been affected as well.”

“How so? He’s just a lycan…a slave. Nothing more.”

“Did you help him?”

“Why would I? No. I did not,” she insisted. “How can you even think that? I am your daughter. I would not defy you like that.”

“I want to believe you,” he said softly. “But I cannot.”

Belle gasped when she felt him sink his fangs into her neck to taste her blood, to uncover the memories and secrets she kept. He growled with rage and pushed her onto her bed. “How could you!” he raged. “You have betrayed me for that….that beast!”

“I love him!” she sobbed.

“And I loved you more than anything. You will not leave this room. She does not leave this room!” he yelled to two of the guards. ”Filthy whore….”

He slammed the doors to her bedchamber behind him.

Later that night a horse galloped outside the castle walls and into the forest. On its back was Ariel, Belle’s lady-in-waiting. For months she’d suspected her mistress and the lycan blacksmith and tailor were lovers and that suspicion was confirmed the night before when she discovered Belle lying on the floor of her bedchamber weeping brokenly while the lycan was being beaten in the courtyard. Ariel helped the girl to her feet and into her bed.

“My lady….he is a lycan…forbidden…” she whispered.

“Still I love him,” Belle confessed. “And I will never stop loving him.”

For so long Rumple and his brothers had been taught that Albert’s spawn were nothing more than mindless beasts yet the night they’d attacked his mate he realized he’d underestimated them….everyone had, just as they’d underestimated him. Now it was time for them to unite. Their scent led him to a cavern in the mountains and he discovered hundreds, possibly thousands of the ancient species concealed within the network of caves, all of them fixing their hungry gazes on the human brave enough to enter their sanctuary, their jaws hanging open, anticipating a feast.

One of the lycans pranced up to his side, sniffing the air for the sweet aroma of fear they usually found on the humans but this one was different and it had a familiar scent.

Why have you come?

I seek a truce between us.

Why? You wanted our blood before.

Because you threatened my mate.

Your mate is not one of us.

No, she is not a lycan but she is whom I have chosen. If our species has any chance of survival we must stop fighting amongst ourselves.

You have courage, pup. We could tear you to pieces and feast on your remains. Why are you not afraid?

Because I believe we can win this war together.

We can pup, only if you are willing to accept what you are.

I know what I am.

Then prove it. Lead us.

Y0u want me to lead you?

You were not just protecting your mate, pup. You challenged the pack and now you have earned the right to lead.

I will lead you.

Then we will stand together.

The silence of the night was broken when thousands of lycans howled in celebration of a truce that it had taken centuries to forge and all that was needed was a strong one willing to lead them.

Ariel found the lycan and his fellow escapees by the river. When Rumple saw the cloaked figure he assumed it was Belle coming to meet with him until Ariel lowered her hood.

“Belle has been arrested. Maurice knows everything. They will kill her! If you love her at all, lycan, you will come back and take her with you or die at her side!” she said angrily and rode off.

“Rumple, think about this,” Bae pleaded.

“There’s nothing to think about. I’m getting her out of there or dying at her side,” Rumple said firmly, dressing in battle armor they’d stolen from the armories of two nobles along with enough weapons for at least a dozen lycan armies. “She’s my mate, Bae. One day when you have one of your own, you’ll understand.”

“I don’t intend to have one,” Bae declared. “Not worth the trouble. And we run the risk of losing half our strength without you. You’re the reason they’re here.”

“No. They’re here because they longed for freedom as much as we did. And they’ll fight…and die to keep it.”

Now that his trap was set, all Maurice had to do was wait for the dog to come to them and he would. He only wished it wasn’t his daughter the dog was coming for.

When Ariel returned she found her mistress bent over her chamberpot, her face more pale than usual. As well as keeping her confined in her chamber, they refused to let her feed. Attacking humans was forbidden, the blood that slaked their thirst came from livestock.

“My lady….are you all right?” she asked worriedly. Belle raised her head, a small smile on her lips. Her hand caressed her belly.

“I am with child, Ariel.”

Ariel gasped. “A vampire breeding a lycan’s offspring? It will be a monster.”

“My child is not a monster and neither is its father!” Belle raged.

“I’ve seen him.”

“Who?”

“Your lycan.”

“Is he all right?” Belle asked worriedly.

“He is safe but if he loves you, he should be here!”

“No! I will not let him suffer any more because of me.”

“You are willing to die for your love?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Ariel was astounded. She certainly didn’t think an animal was worth the effort. He wasn’t a particularly handsome human either. She couldn’t understand why her mistress chose to love him instead of one of their own kind.

“When you’re in love, truly in love, Ariel, you will understand.”

She hoped not. The love her mistress felt for the lycan slave promised nothing but an agonizing death.

Later that night a fierce storm raged. Rumple sought temporary sanctuary in the abandoned watchtower, thinking back to the many nights he and Belle spent there, reminding himself that the risks he took then and now were worth it…every bit of it. Soon they would be together and free of this place.

He tracked her sent to the third floor of the castle. Her room was being guarded by two Death Dealers. He crept up behind them and cut them down with his swords before they had a chance to alert anyone to a disturbance and almost tore the doors to Belle’s suite off their hinges when he opened them.

“Rumple!” she cried and ran into his arms. “Why? You were free!”

“Not without you. We have to go…now!” he said urgently. She grabbed her sword and followed him down the hall. A group of Death Dealers ran to them and the pair made quick work of them with their swords. Rumple grabbed Belle’s hand and they ran out of the castle into the courtyard.

“My lord. Your daughter has escaped…with Rumplestiltskin,” another proclaimed when he burst into the council room. Maurice grinned.

“Of course she has. Come.”

They jumped down into the tunnels. Minutes later a barrel was thrown down along with a lighted torch.

“Belle, get back!” Rumple shouted as the barrel burst into flames in front of them. He grabbed her hand and they ran into another part of the tunnel. A second barrel and torch were tossed down, trapping the couple inside a wall of fire. The only option they had was to jump back out into the courtyard. Rumple leaped out first among a group of death Dealers.

“Now!” he called out to Belle when he had them distracted. She jumped out and the two of them fought back to back against some of the very men she’d trained but she had no regrets. They would kill her or her lover without a second thought, their loyalty more to the coven than to her. Reinforcements arrived, forcing the couple to separate and fight alone. Belle had just finished off another Death Dealer when someone punched her. She was also horrified to see her lover disarmed, surrounded by Death Dealers pointing crossbows at him. She turned around her sword pointed at her furious father.

“You dare to raise your blade to me, whore!”

“I don’t want to!” she cried. “But I have to!” She swung her sword, remembering all the times they’d sparred while she was growing up as practice but now this was a fight for love, for survival. There was no turning back now. They were now on the steps and Belle seized her opening, disarming her father.

“Killing me won’t save him,” Maurice sneered.

“Please withdraw your men…for the sake of your grandchild!” she pleaded and placed his hand on her still flat belly.

Rumple’s eyes widened with shock. Belle was with child…his child? Part of him was overjoyed while another part feared what her father would do to her.

“A miracle, Papa. A union of the bloodlines!”

Maurice drew back in horror. “That thing inside you is a monster….just like the one who spawned it. And I curse the day you were born. I did not raise you to become a beast’s whore!” He pulled a dagger from under his coat and seized his daughter, holding the dagger to her throat.

“Belle!” Rumple cried out. One of the soldiers kicked him, bringing him to his knees.

“This is over!” Maurice shouted. “Remove him!”

“No!” Rumple screamed as they dragged him away.

“It didn’t have to be like this. I could have just given him to the council and no one would have known that you lowered yourself to rutting with that beast. But after this…never! They will see you for the whore you are! Take her away!” he thrust her toward a group of soldiers.

“This is my fault,” Rumple said sadly from the cell next to hers. “Had I not escaped…?”

“Then you never would have known the joy of being free. And the others are free now…because of you. You inspired them. As you inspired me.”

“Belle…”

“You opened my eyes to things I never would have noticed before. The injustice we inflict on your kind, the wonders of love…I have no regrets and neither should you.”

He wished he could touch her but they were locked in cells that prevented any physical contact between them. Minutes later the door to her cell opened and two guards hauled her to her feet.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!” Rumple snarled. Arrows were fired into his back, the silver tips left in his skin to subdue his impulses when the guards came for him. They were both forced to stand in the center of the council room while the charges were listed, the most damning against her: killing her own kind, helping him escape and carrying a child not of their species, the punishment death.

Their hearts sank as the votes were called out. All of the council members voted for death. Now it was time for Maurice to vote.

 

“She is your daughter,” Rumple said softly, his brown eyes pleading for mercy.

“Aye!” Maurice announced and the last ounce of love Belle had for her father was gone the moment those words were spoken. “Take her to the chamber.”

“No….you cannot do this. No! Maurice, you bastard! She is your child….she is carrying your grandchild! If its blood you want, take mine but not her...!” Rumple screamed while he was being dragged away.

She was chained down to a long stone table while he was shackled to the floor in the opposite end of the room. One of the guards stepped behind him with a whip in his hands. He cried out in pain when the lash cut into his back over and over. Belle felt every blow, tears streaming down her cheeks. Finally they stopped and left them alone in the chamber.

Rumple could barely move and he wanted to go to Belle and hold her, not wanting her to face her death without him.

“Let’s go, dog!” one of the guards hissed, dragging him back up.

“No! Belle….”

“Rumple….” she sobbed.

“Belle, listen to me…listen to me. Don’t look at it…think about looking at me…and remember how much I love you!” he pleaded.

“And I will always love you, my Rumple. Goodbye, my love…” she wept from the table.

“Belle!” he screamed. They dragged him down the hall to another room where another guard waited with the whip. They beat him over and over but he no longer cared and no longer felt it. He closed his eyes and thought of her; holding her, touching her.

In the second chamber five small holes opened in the ceiling. Belle closed her eyes and brought her lover’s smiling face into her mind as the sun’s rays bore down on her abdomen, arms, legs and belly. She could smell her flesh burning but let her mind drift back to those nights in the tower and she no longer felt pain, only the gentle touch of his hands on her skin and his body pressed against hers.

“Your lover is dead,” Maurice informed her. “We captured the rest of the beasts and brought them back here to feast on him like the dogs they are.”

“No….” Belle whispered. “Rumple….Rumple!” She threw back her head and screamed, her screams echoing through the walls of the castle. From his own prison Rumple saw the sun’s rays bearing down on the castle and let loose his own screams of anguish.

“It is done….the monster has been destroyed,” Eva, one of the oldest council members informed Maurice, pointing to the blood staining the front of Belle’s shift as she lay on the table. “She has expelled the monster from her body through her own grief.”

“Dispose of it. And have her taken to the ship. No one is to know of this…understand!” he whispered.

“Yes, my lord.”

She understood well why the Elder wanted his daughter spared. Now that she believed her lover had been killed by his own kind, she would once again see them as her enemies. It was a brilliant plan. All that needed to be done was to carry out the second step.

“Fetch my knives,” Maurice said to one of the guards. He smiled. He had a lycan to kill.

Maurice walked calmly into the chamber where Rumple was being kept, the rose medallion he’d given Belle when she was a child in his hand. “You defiled my daughter….dog!” he sneered.

“I loved her!” Rumple shouted.

“You killed her!”

And I will kill every last member of your bloodsucking coven…for her, Rumple thought angrily, his grief giving him focus, strengthening his resolve. He forced the silver tipped arrows out of his back and yanked on the chains snapping them in half. The Death Dealers in the room looked on in horror when he rose to his full height in animal form. He leaped in front of them, snarling angrily and bit down on one’s neck while he decapitated the other with his claws. He then stalked toward Maurice and knocked him to the ground with one swipe of his paw, took the rose medallion and jumped out the stained glass window.

“After him!” Maurice commanded when he got to his feet.

Rumple reached the castle walls when he felt silver arrows once again penetrate his back and pinned him to the stones. He opened his jaws and roared.

Hear my call and come to me….and let us have our revenge!

Baelfire and the other former slaves were walking back to the castle, determined to make a stand for their leader with what little they had until they heard a loud roar pierce the silence of the night followed by another and out of the woods came hundreds of primitives, answering their leader’s call for help. The humans cheered and several of them took their animal forms while they ran to the castle.

Rumple, back in human form and pinned to the castle walls stared in awe as thousands of lycans raced toward the castle along with his friends, many of them changing before they approached. They leaped over the gates and charged at the Death Dealers, tearing them apart with their claws and their jaws.

Balefire shifted back into human form and yanked the arrows out of Rumple’s body.

“Free the others!” he commanded. “I have something I need to take care of,” he said coldly as he stood up. He grabbed a sword from a dead vampire, sniffed the air and walked off in search of his prey. He could hear him arguing with August in the archivist’s chambers, plotting his escape.

You’re not going anywhere, he thought, jumping down into a hole that led him to the docks. There he found his prey.

“You called me a monster, now you’ll see how much of a monster I can be. Your coven is destroyed.”

Maurice launched himself at the lycan, swinging his sword. Rumple raised his own and deflected the attack. He forced the vampire back against the wall.

“I should’ve killed you when you were born.”

“Ah, but you didn’t. And that was your mistake!” He thrust the blade of his sword into the other man’s mouth then threw him into the river. He walked out of the cavern and climbed to the guardhouse where he could see his brothers below, celebrating their triumph.

“It’s over Rumple. We won,” Bae declared.

“No. We’ve just gotten started,” Rumple said firmly as he fastened Belle’s pendant around his neck. He would not rest until they were all dead. There were covens scattered all over the world and two Elders still alive. He would hunt them all down and make them bleed.

On a ship out in the middle of the ocean, August escorted his master to his sarcophagus to begin his hibernation along with the two remaining elders. Below deck, out of the archivist’s sight Eva tended to Maurice’s daughter. The burns on her body were healing but there were deeper scars on her heart.

“Belle.”

“Do not call me that anymore. You may call me…the Dark One…and I’ll strike terror in the hearts of every last one of those dogs and my face will be the last they ever see!”

The hunt was on.


	5. Chapter 5

The present

“I….Is it really you?” They were both speaking at the same time without even realizing it, their hands reaching out to caress each other’s faces, expecting to feel only air instead of living flesh or in Belle’s case, undead flesh. Rumple sat back on his haunches and helped Belle up, wrapping his arms around her.

“You’re real…you’re alive,” he sobbed.

“Tell me I’m not dreaming this….and I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone again,” Belle pleaded through her own tears.

“I’m here…and I will not be parted from you again!” he vowed. “My sweetheart…how is this possible? I was told you’d been exposed to sunlight….with our child.”

“I was,” Belle admitted. She removed her overcoat and pulled up her shirt to reveal a large scar on her abdomen and several more on her arms that she refused to let heal as reminders. “They did not fully expose me because my father pleaded with them not to. They feared him, you see, because he is the most powerful of all the Elders now.”

“Our child?”

“I lost it,” she sobbed. “I…I was devastated when I was told of your death…and lost our child in my grief. I heard you screaming…and oh….those screams haunted me all these years.”

“As yours haunted me,” he confessed. “How did they tell you I died Belle? I need to know.”

“They told me you were condemned to death by your own kind….that Baelfire had you torn to pieces and they feasted on you….like the animals they are!” she screamed. “And that night I vowed I’d make them all bleed at my feet for taking you from me!”

“Lies!” he hissed. “Baelfire is loyal to me. He always has been as have all of my brothers! Can you say the same for those bloodsuckers in your coven? No! They turn on you now as they did before.”

“Anyone…who knew about us…with the exception of my father is dead Rumple…” she pointed out.

“Are they?” he challenged. “There is one still alive who did and if I find out he’s double crossed me I’ll destroy him with his own damned bullets.”

“Rumple, what have you done?” she cried. “You made a deal with one of my kind to destroy us? Why?”

“Because I wanted to burn them all for your death…and our child’s!” he yelled. “This blood feud will end. I will see to it!”

“There will never be peace between our species, Rumple. We tried before…and failed,” Belle said sadly. “Our love, as strong as it is…as it was….was not strong enough to overcome the centuries of hatred…that we both have only made worse in our quests for revenge that was founded on lies!”

“I will not be a slave again.” he vowed.

“I…I can’t fight against my coven…many of them are loyal to me.”

“They were before and they fought you during our attempt to escape. Don’t you remember?”

“These Death Dealers who serve me now are different…”

“How so?” he inquired.

She sighed deeply. “I am their blood mother.”

“Oh, Belle…” he breathed, realizing what she was implying.

Tears brimmed in the corners of her blue eyes. “They forced you to mate with female slaves they turned into lycans to breed more slaves and when that failed, they made you turn them with your bite. They wanted to create a new, more vicious breed of Death Dealers and brought humans to me that were sick or dying to create their army. I refused until they brought me two young girls from a local village, orphaned when their farm was attacked by lycans. When I looked at them, I thought of our child….and how much I wanted to be a mother but when I turned them…I felt unclean as you did when you were forced to mate or turn people against their will.”

“Who are they, Belle?” he asked softly.

“Emma…and Snow.”

He chuckled in spite of himself. “I should have known. That blond terror is like you in so many ways. Bae has met his match in her I’m afraid. My boys fear her more than Snow. Whatever happens, I will keep your daughters safe…and my son.”

He helped her to her feet. While they were walking she glanced down at his chest and saw her medallion hanging from a fine gold chain.

“You had it…” she whispered. “All this time…you had it.”

“I took it from your father when I escaped,” he explained. “It was all I had of you…other than my memories.”

“My memories were all I had of you.”

They wished they could be like other couples, taking a leisurely stroll through the forest but they were not. They were long parted lovers of rival species with a bitter blood feud that started with them…and only they could put an end to it.

Once they returned to where they’d abandoned each other’s cars to resume their chase on foot, neither of them was ready to part. The times had changed but one thing was still the same, they had to hide their love in the shadows until there was peace between their species.

“The pawnshop. Can you meet me there tomorrow night?” he asked her. She nodded and threw her arms around him, unleashing the centuries of longing she’d had for him as she drew his mouth down to hers. It was not the time or place for it but there was nothing he wanted to do more than carry her off and make love to her until they were both so exhausted they couldn’t move for days and if they were both still alive when this bloody war was over, it was exactly what he planned on doing.

They were both so lost in the passion of their kiss that they hadn’t noticed the sun rising over the mountains until Belle could feel her back starting to burn. She cried out and sank to her knees in pain. “Belle, sweetheart, what’s wrong…shit!” he cursed when he looked up and realized what the source was of her pain. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to his car and placed her in the passenger seat. “Stay down!” he ordered; throwing his jacket over her while he got in the driver’s seat and started the engine knowing he had to get her somewhere dark before she burned worse than she already was while she was trying to take cover under the dashboard.

Thankfully he’d had the old Cadillac’s engine modified by Bae who insisted on it once they learned the vampires were now using vehicles to pursue them rather than their own two feet. He was breaking every speed law in the books and probably some that weren’t but there were no police around to arrest them and even if there were, he’d unleash his wrath on them if they tried to stop him from protecting his mate.

The only place close that he could take her was a cabin he found not long after they arrived in the town. His other sanctuaries were a salmon pink Victorian mansion and the pawnshop. Both were deep in vampire territory but he found it amusing that he was hiding right under their noses. As far as the vampires were concerned, Bae was the leader of the lycan clan and that was the way they wanted it to appear. Bae was the brawn of the clan, Rumple the brains. Maurice’s decision to erase Rumple’s very existence from the vampire archives and kill or exile anyone who knew about him and his connection to Belle worked in their favor. The Elder’s lies would be his undoing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted the turnoff to the cabin.

“I’ll be right back. Just keep down,” he said to Belle.

“All right,” she murmured. He ran into the house and grabbed the comforter off the bed and raced outside, cursing again when the back of her neck was burned while he was trying to get her out of the car and wrapped in the comforter. He carried her wrapped up like a mummy into the house and laid her on the bed.

“Belle, don’t come out of there until I say, okay?” he instructed.

“Feel like…a damned mummy,” she muttered.

“You’ll get over it,” he retorted with a smirk and got to work darkening the cabin, covering every window with heavy drapes he found in the basement. When he returned she was sitting up on the bed. “What part of don’t come out until I say did you not get?” he demanded angrily.

“Was getting hard to breathe in there,” she answered. “And you’ll get over it.”

He laughed remembering how they used to have verbal spats with each other even when it wasn’t to conceal their true feelings for each other. “Okay….turn around. I need to look at your back and neck.”

“Rumple…”

“Good gods, Belle, what are you suddenly being modest about? I’ve seen everything you have.”

“They’ve already started healing,” she informed him and turned around to show him her back and neck.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you here fast enough.”

“You still got me to safety before worse damage could be done. I can’t go back to town, not now. I’ll have to wait until after the sun goes down.”

“Won’t your daughters worry when you don’t go back to mansion right away?”

“They’re used to me being out late…for days sometimes when I’m hunting or trying to avoid Gaston. Now before you want to go off on a feeding frenzy know that I don’t love him and I never would,” Belle said when Rumple started growling. “Won’t Baelfire worry about you?”

“He’s used to me going off by myself for days at a time,” Rumple confessed. “But if there is an urgent matter that needs my attention he always knows where to look for me. He’s the only person who knows where to look for me. Knowing that they told you he was responsible for my death makes me want to rip their throats out.”

“I was a fool to believe the lies.”

“We both were.” he said softly. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“My skin is healing…but now we have another problem.”

“What?”

“I need to feed.”

“Belle, my gods! You told me you were never going to do that again!” he cried.

“I…I’ve been so preoccupied with what’s been going on that I…”

“How long?” he demanded.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“How long?!” he shouted.

“A few days….maybe a week.”

“Dammit!” he cursed. “Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time? You’ll be feral in a matter of hours and in case you haven’t noticed, livestock is scarce around here!” He thrust his wrist out at her.

“No!” She shoved it away. “I won’t feed on you! One of our safe houses has a blood supply. If I can get to it, I’ll be all right for a week or so."

“You can’t go out now! It’s still daylight and you’ll already be feral by the time the sun goes down. Where is this safe house?”

“Rumple, it’s too dangerous for you to go…”

“It’s either that or you feed on me,” he declared. He’d only seen her like this once before and some of the other vampires many times. The longer a vampire went without feeding, the more feral it became and would attack anything living to satisfy its blood hunger. As desperate as they were; they refused to feed on lycans for fear their blood would be lethal. Rumple knew from the literature he’d discovered a lycan being bitten by a vampire or vice versa with a blood exchange occurring would transform both parties into hybrids. A hybrid could also be conceived by a physical union between the two species. When he offered his blood to Belle, it was not to follow through with his plan to become a hybrid. He knew from past experience what would happen if Belle lapsed into a feral state and the aftermath of it was devastating.

 

“I won’t feed on you. I can’t!” she cried.

“Where is this safe house?”

“The library. The basement,” she answered.

“All right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Be careful Rumple. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly.

“Just…don’t do this again,” he pleaded.

She felt his species was the more advantaged of the two. He could eat anything while her survival depended entirely on blood and as her lover reminded her, livestock was scarce in Storybrooke. Still, the vampires had other options open to them. One of the humans they turned was a brilliant scientist named Victor Frankenstein and he’d discovered that synthetic blood could be used by a vampire in place of actual blood but the side effect was that they were required to feed one a week whereas one feeding of whole blood could sustain them for a month.

“I’m sorry,” she said again and kissed him.

It had been centuries since he’d broken into a fortress of sorts only it was much easier to do when you had so many modern gadgets to work with along with the strength of three men although Rumplestiltskin was rather lanky in his human form which worked to his advantage when he stalked his prey. When he entered the basement of the library, he was not surprised to see that it also served as an interrogation room for captured lycans. He had his own interrogation room in their underground hideout and while the vampires used many different methods to obtain information from their prisoners, he only used two….the threat of being bled dry or exposed to sunlight. He approached the industrial sized refrigerator and grabbed a dozen packets of the synthetic blood hoping it would be enough to satisfy Belle’s cravings until she could safely return to town. While he was leaving, he looked up at the ceiling and pulled the security camera out of the wall and crushed it.

Rumple returned to the cabin, more worried than he had been before. Belle’s blood hunger was getting worse and it was a matter of time before it made her lose her self-control and she would attack the closest source of blood she could find. He could still remember how upset she’d been when he went to meet her at the watchtower one night and she told him she’d attacked a human because she’d gone too many days without feeding. She’d made a promise never to be so careless again and unfortunately she’d broken it again.

“Belle?” he called out. There was no answer. He sniffed the air. She was in the bedroom but when he entered, he didn’t see her. Then he felt something pounce on him and he found himself face down on the bed and cried out as a pair of fangs sank into his neck.

Belle sighed deeply as she had her first taste of blood in days and this blood was sweeter than any she’d ever had before. She reached out expecting to touch the carcass of a cow but instead found her fingers curling in long human hair…with gray streaks and her fangs buried deep in the flesh of a man’s throat while he writhed beneath her.

“No!” she screamed, pulling her mouth away when she realized she was lying on top of Rumple, two puncture marks dripping with blood on his neck. “Rumple…oh my God. Rumple! What have I done?”

Rumple screamed in agony and flipped over onto his back. Since he’d been born a lycan, he wasn’t aware of how painful a turning would be. He felt as if he’d been thrown onto a rack and was being stretched out while his body underwent the transformation. His skin was turning grey and his nails turning into large talons, his eyes black as coals. He was becoming a hybrid at last and so would she now that she’d tasted his blood only this was not how he wanted it to happen.

“I’m sorry Rumple,” Belle wept. “I’m so sorry…I….ahhhh!”

Belle fell to the floor, her body wracked with pain. She could see her skin turning grey and her nails turning into razor sharp talons with bat wings growing in her back. When she looked up Rumple stood over her, no longer in his human form but not a lycan either. He was something different…and now so was she.


	6. Chapter 6

“Rumple...what…what have I done to you…to us?” Belle asked with horror as she slowly rose to her feet and studied her lover’s new form, a combination of both a vampire bat and a werewolf only he did not have wings as she did.

 

We’re hybrids, Belle. Half vampire, half lycan but stronger than both, he answered in her mind since his animal form left him incapable of speech even now. It was what I wanted to become….but not like this.

 

“You were planning on turning into a hybrid? How?”

 

By injecting myself with the blood of the strongest vampire. I never thought it could’ve been you! This is all my fault.

 

“No, it’s mine. I attacked you! You warned me years ago to not let myself get so distracted again that I would forget to feed and attack someone. I’ve done so well all this time but now I’ve done it again and worse…to the man I love!”

 

I would have gladly offered myself up to you to stop you from attacking an innocent Belle. I couldn’t bear seeing you suffering from the guilt you felt the last time you wouldn’t let me help you.

 

She nodded through her tears, remembering that night well. He’d started seeing the signs that she was turning feral during one of their secret meetings in the tower.

 

“Belle, you must feed,” he pleaded, holding out his wrist to her.

 

“I cannot feed from you. Your blood is a poison to me as mine is to you,” she reminded him.

 

“I believe that is another lie we have been told to keep our species enemies,” he declared. “My sweetheart, you have to…otherwise your hunger will drive you to attack anything to satisfy it even the innocent and you do not want that on your conscience.”

 

“Have you done that?”

 

“Once,” he confessed. “But not by choice. I was starved to learn whether I would turn feral as the vampires do without blood and they set me loose on some of the more difficult slaves.” He lowered his head and sighed deeply. “All I could smell was food and all I could think about was how hungry I was. I couldn’t control myself even if I wanted to and once my hunger was satisfied they were all in pieces around me. I tore them apart even as they begged for mercy. I was a monster. They never starved me like that again but I was haunted by what I’d done.”

 

“I can’t do it, Rumple. I just can’t. I will find another way.”

 

Only she hadn’t. She returned to the tower that night, the blood of the villager she’d attacked still on her lips. She hadn’t killed him and her father was forced to turn him to ensure his silence and she spent that night weeping in her lover’s arms, vowing she would never be so careless again.

“Rumple, now that you are part vampire…you will be blood dependent too.”

I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right. Already I crave it.

“Will we be like this…permanently?”

 

I don’t believe so but let me try to change back to my human form the way I do as a lycan. He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them again he was back in his human form.

“How did you do that?” she asked him.

“You just have to tell yourself that you want to change back and you will. Try it,” he coached. She closed her eyes, pictured her human form in her mind and focused until she was one again.

“I can’t go back,” she said dejectedly. “Not now. They’ll be able to sense what I am, won’t they?”

“Yes. But it’s going to be a hell of a lot harder to kill you.”

“No it won’t. All they have to do is expose me to sunlight to kill me.”

“I don’t think so my sweetheart,” he said with a smile and held out his hand. “Do you trust me?”

“More than anything.”

He took her hand and led her out to the front door of the cabin, feeling her hand trembling when he reached for the knob. She was terrified they’d both be burned to dust by the afternoon sun the moment he opened the door but if she were going to die, she was exactly where she wanted to be…with her love. They took deep breaths and opened the door, stepping out into the sunlight with their hand clasped tightly. Tears fell from Belle’s eyes as she felt the sun’s warm rays without feeling pain as they burned her pale skin and to her joy he was also unaffected. She pulled her silver dagger out of her pocket and held it against the bare skin of his arm and it did not harm him either.

“You did it, sweetheart…you’ve freed yourself. You no longer have to hide in the dark.”

She threw her arms around him, laughing and crying as she kissed him. “No, you have! We’re immune to both sunlight…and silver! This is how we can save our children, end this war and unite our bloodlines!”

“If we can….”

“We will,” she said determinedly as their lips met again and both of them felt a deep hunger not for blood but for each other after so many years apart. They made love while lying under a sunlit sky for the first time in their lives and it would not be the last time.

Emma stormed back to the mansion after a fierce gunfight with a pack of lycans that killed everyone in her team either by tearing them apart or shooting them with ultraviolet ammunition. She had no idea where those dogs had been able to come up with a weapon specifically designed to kill vampires but she sure as hell was going to find out. Making matters worse, Belle was missing and she feared her birth mother was dead, killed by the same bullets that took out her friends. She dreaded giving the news to Regina that one of her lovers was dead.

“We have a serious problem!” she said angrily slamming the gun she’d confiscated from one of the lycans she’d killed down on Marco’s worktable.

“What is it?”

“Eject the mag and look at it.”

Marco picked the gun up, ejected the cartridge and inspected it. “Is that…?”

“Exactly what it looks like. UV rounds. Now where the fucking hell did those dogs get the brains to come up with that!?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But it does give me an idea. Silver nitrate. If we can make rounds like these filled with silver nitrate, it will send it right through their bloodstream.”

Emma grinned. “And they won’t be able to dig them out. How soon can you have some ready?”

“I’ll get to work on them right away,” he promised.

She then went to make her report to Gaston who didn’t seem all that interested in the dreadful news she brought much to her dismay.

“We need to assemble a team, go down in those sewers and wipe them out…once and for all!” Emma growled.

“It’s probably just a small pack and I don’t see the point in wasting time and manpower on it when we have other matters to attend to.”

“I know what I heard and saw, you ass. There were hundreds, possibly thousands of lycans down there and Baelfire is leading them. The only person strong enough to go up against him is missing, probably dead by the same damned rounds that killed Daniel and the rest of my team. We need to wipe them out…now!”

“She’s right,” Regina muttered from where she was sitting being comforted by Robin.

“We can’t let this slide, Gaston,” added David who was sitting beside Snow.

“I am in charge of this coven and I will decide what course of action to take!” Gaston barked.

“The only thing you seem to want to do is sit on your ass and do nothing!” yelled Emma. “And we don’t have time to wait for you!” She spun on her heel and left the room with Robin, Regina, David and Snow following her.

“What do you intend to do?” Regina asked her.

“I don’t know yet. But something. We have to find Belle. She’s the strongest of all of us.”

“And if we can’t?” Snow asked her.

She knew what she wanted to do, but she hoped it would not come to that for the council would have her condemned to death. She retreated to the basement level of the mansion that housed the crypt. In the center of the room were three plaques with elegantly engraved letters in the center C for Cora, M for Maurice and G for Malcolm to distinguish him from Maurice and also because his surname as a human was Gervano.

My lord, we need you now, more than ever. Gaston is tearing this coven apart with his laziness and indifference and I fear the one person that can stop him, my mother, has been killed by lycans.

“I don’t think Maurice would want you to spend your days staring at his tomb,” Zelena said from behind her.

“No, he’d have our entire Death Dealer force scouring every inch of those sewers and wiping those dogs out,” Emma retorted. “What the hell do you want anyway?”

“Cora’s envoy has arrived and Gaston is asking everyone to meet in the parlor.” Zelena informed her and left. Emma rolled her eyes. She didn’t give a damn about their little party and neither it seemed did Regina, Snow, David and Robin. They were all waiting for her in her room dressed in their Death Dealer clothing.

“I need you to stand guard,” Emma instructed them. The group descended into the basement, the others standing outside the crypt with their weapons ready while Emma went inside. She turned the knob bearing Maurice’s initials, unlocking the crypt and raising the casket from its dark hiding place. She stood over the casket and gazed down at her grandfather’s body, mummified from his time in hibernation. He would require a massive blood infusion to return to full strength and that would take at least a day or two.

She bit into her arm and allowed her blood to flow into the tube leading to the sleeping Elder’s mouth. As he ingested the crimson liquid, he could hear Emma’s voice in his mind and see her memories. Because she was a fledgling her memories were in fragments and difficult to sort through which was why awakenings were only done by other Elders.

“Please forgive me but I desperately need your guidance. I apologize for breaking the chain of command but I fear we may all be in danger, especially you my lord if left in your weakened state. Belle is missing and I fear dead. The lycans have returned in greater numbers and now have found a way to harness the sunlight itself as a weapon to destroy us. I have made several attempts to persuade Gaston to launch a full scale attack without success. Now I fear he may be conspiring with Baelfire to betray us all,” she said sadly while she was hooking up the bags and tubes that would feed the synthetic blood into his system to restore him.

“Let’s go,” she said to the others when she exited the crypt. It was easy for them to sneak out of the mansion since the rest of the coven was too busy making themselves presentable for Cora’s envoy.

When Zelena returned to Emma’s room to fetch the girl she was angry to discover she was gone…again. Thinking she was still in the crypt she hurried down to the basement and to her horror she discovered Maurice’s tomb unlocked. She spun on her heel and raced upstairs to Gaston’s suite.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Why aren’t you ready yet?”

“She…she’s…she’s awakened him!” she gasped.

“What?”

“Maurice….Emma has awakened him!” she cried.

“Show me!” he demanded, grabbing her arm and practically dragging her down to the basement where he learned the terrifying truth. Maurice’s tomb was unlocked and the blood infusion started. He could only imagine what the bitch had tried to tell him.

They decided to split up once they reached the entrance to the sewer system. Robin and Regina went off in one direction together, Snow and David in another while Emma conducted her search alone. She caught the scent of lycan at the old pawnshop and saw that the side of the building was covered with bullet holes, smiling when she recognized Belle’s handiwork and hoped she turned whoever she’d been after into silver Swiss cheese. She shattered the glass on the front door window and stepped inside, the scent even stronger inside the shop. A lycan had been living there, right under their noses only it wasn’t Baelfire. She knew that dog’s scent better than her own. Now she wanted to know who this one was and how the hell he managed to slip underneath their radar. She searched the shop, finding it amusing that this dog was something of a clothes horse and even more bizarre, he was a reader.

Her cell phone buzzed with a text message. Regina and Robin had discovered something a few blocks away. She typed back her location and asked them to meet with her there along with Snow and David.

“We picked up a lycan’s scent at that old Victorian house down the road…the pink one,” Robin said.

“Right under our noses. This is not a good sign Emma. I thought they couldn’t mask their scent from us,” Regina added.

“They shouldn’t but they’ve been evolving,” Emma said. “Where’s Snow and David?”

“Here!” Snow called out breathlessly with David at her heels. “We’ve got a serious problem.”

“We’ve picked up a lycan’s scent both here and in that pink house down the road….son of a bitch has been right under our noses the whole damned time!” Emma said angrily.

“He’s been in one of our safe houses too and made off with the entire blood supply there,” David informed the others.

“What the hell would a lycan need with blood?” Robin asked.

“I can think of only one reason….if they didn’t kill Belle, they’re holding her somewhere and since she hasn’t fed, she will probably go feral tonight,” Emma theorized.

“Good. Let her rip their worthless hides to shreds!” Regina snarled.

“She can’t bite one of them!” Emma cried. “Their blood is lethal to us, remember!” They probably took the blood to keep her from going feral so they can find out what she knows. Snow, did the cameras at the safe house pick up anything?”

“He broke it but I think we can pull up the tape.”

They ran back to the safe house and pulled up the recording in the refrigeration unit, stunned to see a lycan they’d never faced before shoving packets of blood into a duffel bag along with several guns. Emma pressed several keys on the computer and enlarged the video. All of the lycans they faced were young but this one appeared to be a middle aged man and from what she’d learned from Belle, they chose the eldest and strongest from their pack as the alpha.

“Shit!” Emma breathed.

“What?”

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are looking at the real alpha of those dogs, not Baelfire.”

David leaned down and stared at the image on the screen. “Isn’t this guy too scrawny to be an alpha?”

“In human form, yes, but they all look stronger as animals. We all know that. We should have picked up his scent here a long time ago but we didn’t. He’s masking it. We have to get back to the mansion and talk to Maurice. He’s the only one strong enough to take down an alpha.”

From his hiding place in the alleyway, Baelfire cursed under his breath. Maurice was awakened and once he learned Rumple was alive, the real bloodbath would begin.

Belle moaned softly, running her fingers through her lover’s hair and cradling his head while he fed from her, her body moving in perfect timing with his while they made love again under the moonlit sky. Her suggestion that he feed from her during their lovemaking had taken him by surprise though the concept was not unfamiliar to him. He’d witnessed a few of the vampires indulging in it during his days as a slave and failed to see what the appeal was…now he knew. Besides satisfying their blood hunger, it also allowed them to share a deeper connection. It was just after midnight when they returned to the cabin, Rumple’s cellphone ringing.

“That’s Bae. Something’s wrong,” he said and picked it up. “Hello?”

“Where the hell are you?” Bae cried urgently.

“I’m at the cabin. What’s going on?”

“Stay there. I’m on my way.”

“Would you mind telling me what has you so frazzled?”

“Believe me, you’d rather hear this in person.”

“All right. I’ll be waiting.”

“What’s wrong? Is Bae all right?” Belle inquired.

“He sounds upset and he’s going to be a bit shocked to find you here.”

“I should get back.”

“Belle, you can’t! You have my scent and my blood now and those vampires will try to kill you. Just because we are immune now to both sunlight and silver, that doesn’t mean we can’t be killed by other means.”

“Rumple, I need to know. Who did you make a deal with in my coven?”

“The weapons I got from August and the other traitor in your coven is Gaston.”

“I might have known that son of a bitch was up to something. And August….I can see why he would’ve helped you. It would have been to his advantage but he didn’t tell my father about us. I thought he was dead.”

“Not dead…in hiding. He escaped your father’s Death Dealers and has been in hiding ever since. Gaston wants to overthrow the council and make himself sole Elder of the coven…only he doesn’t know I was only using him to exterminate them for my revenge.”

“This council wasn’t the one that sentenced us to die, Rumple. You killed them all.”

“Except for Cora and Malcolm,” he pointed out.

“They were in hibernation at the time.”

“And you think they would let either of us live after what we’ve done? No, darling Belle. They hold the same beliefs your father does…our species are not meant to be united. And once Malcolm comes out of hibernation I have no doubt he will try to release his brother from his prison and Albert will create a new race of primitives that even I cannot control.”

“How can we stop him?”

“By making sure he never gets his hands on this,” he said holding up her medallion.

“My medallion? What does that have to do with it?”

“It’s part of the key to Albert’s prison. Your father has the other half buried beneath his skin. I stole this from him after I thought you died to remember you but it wasn’t until August found me that I learned what it actually was.”

“Where is Albert’s prison?”

“I don’t know but we need to find it before Malcolm is awakened from hibernation. We are the only ones strong enough to defeat both of them.”

“The only thing I am concerned about now is finding Emma and Snow. I know it will be difficult for them to accept what I am now but I’m hoping they will at least try.”

Rumple had his doubts but kept his silence for her sake.


	7. Chapter 7

Well, if you told me you were drowning

I would not lend a hand

I've seen your face before my friend

But I don't know if you know who I am

Well, I was there and I saw what you did

I saw it with my own two eyes

So you can wipe off that grin,

I know where you've been

It's all been a pack of lies

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord

Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord

And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord

~ Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight ~

Gaston was never more terrified in his immortal life. His master plan to become the only Elder of the vampire clan was blowing up in his face thanks to Belle’s little fledgling Emma. At least one part of it was going on without a hitch. At that moment, Baelfire’s dogs were at the train station to intercept Cora before she could reach the mansion and awaken Malcolm. He sent Lafou and his team as the council protection detail over Marco’s protests but they had n0 intentions of stopping the carnage.

Now he was kneeling on the throne room floor with Zelena at his side with the newly awakened and very angry Maurice looking down on him.

“I have seen quite a few….disturbing things…things that I would like some answers to…servant,” Maurice ordered.

“I am innocent, my lord. If the lycans are planning an attack it through no fault of mine,” he insisted.

“Also I have been told these dogs have found a way to harness the sun’s rays against us and my daughter is missing, presumed dead. Is this true?” The younger vampire hesitated to answer. Maurice rose from his throne with the blood infusion tubes still sticking out of his back. He grabbed Gaston by his shirt collar and held him up. “Answer me or I’ll have you bled dry or burned in the sun chamber!”

“It…it’s true,” Gaston sputtered, close to pissing himself in fear. Zelena looked up at him with a scowl, wondering why she thought it was a good idea to seduce him to obtain a power position in the coven when he was completely spineless.

“If I find out you are involved in a plot against me and the other Elders you’re dead, servant,” Maurice informed him. “You will summon Malcolm, immediately!”

“My lord…Cora and the council members are coming here tonight to awaken Malcolm. You…you’ve been awakened a full century ahead of schedule.”

Maurice shook his head. Belle’s fledgling had broken one of the most sacred laws of the covenant that no one, other than an Elder can awaken another and only when scheduled to do so. To avoid any conflicts, the three Elders made a decision each one would rule alone for one hundred years. Now two were awake and it seemed they had quite a mess on their hands, a mess that could’ve been avoided had Cora not decided to relocate her branch of the coven to Europe. The vampires needed to be united in order to defeat the lycans as they had been in the past. He, Cora and Malcolm, though Malcolm had been an unwilling participant, managed to put down the majority of Albert’s pack when they first became vampires. They captured the others to study them two of them being the parents of the bastard that became Maurice’s living nightmare years later. Rumplestiltskin had taken control of Albert’s pack and his own blood brothers and defiled Maurice’s precious daughter’s body and her mind. His only consolation was that the bastard had been torn apart by his own kind or so Gaston had been told by the whelp spawned from Rumplestiltskin’s blood before he too died. But Emma believed Baelfire was alive and he suspected a few of her allegations against Gaston were more opinion rather than fact. She did not approve of Gaston’s pursuit of Belle.

He spun quite the tale in regards to Belle, and a few other matters. By convincing his daughter that her precious lycan lover had been killed by his own kind, he refueled the hatred Belle had for the dogs and she became their Grim Reaper. He couldn’t be more proud. As for Emma and Snow, the deaths of their parents had been a necessity. The very winter Rumple staged his uprising and stole part of the key to Albert’s cell, it was necessary to get rid of two of the people who knew its exact location before that treacherous dog discovered it and unleashed that beast. He killed the parents and fed on them himself but when he got to the two young girls….he had another idea…the perfect way to give his daughter the child she deserved, not the monstrosity that lycan put in her belly. And the girls, especially the blond haired one named Emma wanted vengeance against the lycans she believed killed her parents. Turning the girls gave the vampires another Death Dealer whose skill rivaled Belle’s and a daughter to replace the child Maurice had to destroy to protect their species.

“When Emma returns you will bring her to me. We have much to discuss.” Maurice said firmly. “And you will also send Cora to me when she arrives.”

“Yes, my lord.” Gaston rose and left the throne room, smirking. Cora wasn’t going anywhere and he’d deal with that bitch Emma his own way once he got Maurice and Malcolm out of the way. Then he was going to put down some dogs, specifically one named Baelfire. Zelena met him out in the driveway with a gun now loaded with rounds full of silver nitrate.

A luxury train pulled into the depot two hours later, its passengers the members of the vampire council and the current reigning elder, Cora. All seemed quiet until they heard the howl of a wolf.

“Take your positions!” Cora commanded her guards.

“Where is the protection detail we were promised?” one of them asked her.

“We cannot wait for them,” she said and drew her sword. No primitive was taking her down without a fight.

A large claw shattered the window behind them and the ceiling above them was torn apart by one of the primitives. Five of them jumped down into the car and began their attack. Cora’s guards pelted them silver bullets, killing three of them. Another howl rang out in the night and dozens of primitives scrambled to the train. Inside the train the screams of the dying could be heard along with gunfire. Lefou and the members of the protection detail watched in silence as the carnage unfolded. The last scream that was heard came from Cora as a primitive kneeled over her and tore out her throat, her lifeblood flowing out of her body and onto the plush white carpet.

Rumple paced the floor of the cabin nervously, occasionally looking out the window for any sign of Baelfire, only relaxing when he saw him pull up in front of the cabin and jump out of his car. Rumple met him on the porch.

“Now what’s going on?”

“Maurice has been awakened and they know about you. Did you break into one of their safe houses?”

“I had to,” Rumple answered honestly.

“Why?” Baelfire sniffed the air and caught the scent of vampire blood around his father and saw two puncture marks on his neck that he hadn’t healed yet. “Son of a bitch. You did it! You’re a hybrid aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Hope you tore that Dark One bitch to pieces afterwards,” Bae muttered.

“I couldn’t,” Rumple murmured.

“Why? You know what she’s done to us…how many she’s killed.”

“I do, Bae but everything will make sense in a moment. You can come out now,” he called out once they were inside the cabin.

Belle poked her head out of the bedroom doorway. “Hello, Baelfire,” she said softly. His eyes widened in shock when he caught a glimpse of a face he hadn’t seen in centuries.

“We thought you were dead!” he exclaimed.

“As I thought Rumple was dead…torn to pieces by you,” Belle told him. “I became the Dark One to avenge his death.”

“You believe this?” Bae asked Rumple.

“I’ve tasted her blood as she has tasted mine. Blood memories show truths, Bae. I saw Maurice feeding her those lies as she saw me believing they’d burned her to death. We survived but our child did not and I will still have my revenge!”

“Rumple, you promised me!” Belle cried.

“I will protect your daughters as we agreed Belle but the others will have a choice. They will agree to end this war or die with your father!”

“My father is in hibernation!”

“Not anymore,” Bae spoke up. “Emma awakened him. And you know he’ll come after us with everything he’s got Papa especially once he finds out you have Belle.”

“Let him come. I’ve been waiting centuries to finish what I started.”

Belle sank down in a chair. “Emma has broken the chain of succession and the covenant….they will want her blood for it but they will not have it!” She stood up and grabbed her gun off the table.

“Belle, what are you doing? My scent will be on you when you go back there and they will try to kill you.”

“Let them try. I will not let my daughter die for a war I started by allowing myself to fall for my father’s lies. You believe the fault is yours but it is not, Rumple. It is mine. I should have gone with you the first night you escaped.”

“No!” We started this war together and we will finish it! You are not facing your father alone! Baelfire, get back to the den and have our brothers prepare for a full assault. Make sure every UV round we have is available and tell them not to waste any of them and summon the primitives. As of this moment you are now the alpha of our pack. They will respond to you. If we can keep vampires going until the sun comes up, the solar openings will finish them off. And be careful!”

“You too.”

They got into Rumple’s Cadillac and sped off into town whole Baelfire returned to their underground lair get ready. Upon his return he was given the news that Cora and the members of the council were dead. Gaston had followed through with that portion of their bargain.

Immediately upon their return to the mansion, Emma, Snow, David, Robin and Regina were escorted to the throne room. Maurice sat upon his throne, back at full strength thanks to the blood infusion. The fledglings kneeled at the feet of their lord.

“We have been lost without you my lord,” Emma spoke up. “This coven is not as strong as it was during your reign and I still fear we have been betrayed by one of our own.”

“All you have is suspicion…no evidence.”

“But we do.” She handed him the photograph she’d printed of the safe haven’s security camera. “Baelfire is indeed alive and well but he is not the alpha. This man is and we believe he has Belle…and Gaston is in league with him.”

Maurice studied the photograph and crumbed it in his hand, hissing with rage. Indeed, this was proof of Gaston’s lies but he was not the only traitor in their coven. She’d betrayed them all again for that…beast.

“He was supposed to be dead…taken his own life in grief!” Maurice cried, remembering the story he’d been told by Gaston after his brave siege of Rumplestiltskin’s fortress three decades after the lycan’s escape and destruction of Maurice’s own fortress.

“Who is this lycan, my lord and why have we not heard of him until now?” Regina asked.

“Because I believed him dead but had I read the blood of Gaston I would have seen the truth within. My children, it grieves me to tell you that Gaston is not the only traitor in our coven. The other traitor…is my own flesh and blood…my daughter,” he said sadly.

“WHAT?!” the fledglings cried out. “That can’t be true!” Emma insisted. “She’s fought at our side against them for centuries. You’ve seen this with your own eyes before you took your slumber.”

“Alas, once again her body and mind have been polluted by her lover that….lycan,” Maurice said bitterly.

“Are you telling us Belle’s lover, the one that was supposedly killed by lycans was a lycan himself and the alpha of their pack?” Snow demanded.

“He is. His name is Rumplestiltskin…and he is the blood father of the breed of lycans we now face. And he defiled my daughter….polluted her mind with his lies and seduced her to bear his monster child…a child I had to destroy to protect our species! And I will do so again by destroying every last one of those dogs as I should have before!”

The four fledglings were conflicted. All of them fought beside Belle over the years, grieved with her as she mourned the losses of her lover and child and been loved by her like they were her own children and two of them were through the gift of her bite and her blood. They also were loyal to their coven and their ruling Elder. If Belle had indeed betrayed them to the lycans she was now their enemy and had to be destroyed with the rest of them.

Marco glanced at the clock. The council was two hours late and Gaston was nowhere in sight. This was not a good sign. He called together the strongest members of his Death Dealer team and instructed them to go down to the train station to find out what was keeping them. This was not like her at all. He kept his phone on while he waited for news and continued working on more silver nitrate filled bullets. Now that Maurice was awake he suspected the Elder was going to do exactly what Emma wanted: storm the lycan hideout and exterminate them.

In the rearview mirror, Rumple could see a truck coming up behind them fast and the scent of vampires in the air. “We’ve got company!” he growled.

“Lefou!” Belle hissed, catching the familiar scent herself. “He’s Gaston’s worthless fledgling.”

The truck slammed into the rear of the car.

“Fuck! What is it with you bloodsuckers that you’re always trying to wreck my car?” Rumple demanded angrily.

“Ummm…need I remind you are one now?” Belle asked, rolling her eyes. “Give me that gun!” She reached into the holster on his waist and pulled out the gun filled with UV rounds then climbed into the backseat and smashed the rear window. She pelted the truck with bullets from her own gun to slow it down. The driver sped up and struck the rear end again, throwing Belle to the floor in the backseat. Rumple swerved to the right. The driver of the truck sped up again and pulled along beside him. One of the windows was rolled down and the passenger started shooting.

“Okay…now I am pissed!” Rumple snarled, slamming on brakes. One of the bullets struck him in the head and another buried itself in his neck but neither of them would harm him due to his new form. “You okay back there, Belle?”

She was angry and she wanted blood. She’d never liked Lefou, found him as sneaky and slimy as his master and nothing would suit her more than to deliver the bastard to Gaston in pieces. She picked up her fallen gun and jumped out of the car, transforming into her hybrid form as Rumple did the same to dig out the bullets in his body. The truck stopped and its occupants got out, one of them Lefou as Belle suspected and several members of his crew. All of them were carrying Uzis loaded with silver bullets.

“Holy shit! What the hell are those?!” one of them cried as Belle swooped down on him and stabbed him in the shoulder with her wing, lifting him off the ground. Lefou aimed his gun at Rumple and fired, nearly every bullet missing him. Rumple wanted to laugh but couldn’t in his hybrid form. The bloodsucker was the worst shot he’d ever seen and even more hilarious, he could smell urine after the terrified bloodsucker wet himself in terror.

Well Maurice, you certainly fouled up nicely this time by not telling your little fledglings just what does happen when vampire and lycan blood mixes, Rumple thought. Belle tossed her captive vampire into the trunk of a tree then turned her wrath on Lefou, She flew at him and knocked him to the ground, sinking her fangs into his neck. Rumple set his sights on Lefou’s three remaining companions, wanting to tear them to pieces. They screamed and fled with him chasing after them. Belle took to the air to pursue them after she finished with Lefou.

Rumple picked up their scent in a cave. Belle flew to the top of the hill and waited above the entrance to the cave.

Lure them out. I will finish them, she instructed.

He nodded and approached the cave, making sure the vampires hidden inside could see him. As soon as they did, they opened fire. He backed away from them and fell to his knees to make them think they’d gotten the upper hand. They emerged from the cave, pointing their guns at him to finish him off. Belle jumped down from her hiding place and grabbed them, biting into their necks and dropped them to the ground.

“They’ve killed the council members…and Cora,” she announced when they changed back into human form.

“We don’t have much time.”

Once the sun went down, Baelfire emerged from the underground lair and climbed to the top of the hill. He changed into his were form and roared louder than he ever had in his life, the call travelling across the city and into the caverns where the primitives made their home. He heard movement behind him and turned to face one of the oldest primitives, the very same one Rumple challenged centuries ago for control of the pack.

Why do you call us? Where is our leader?

He is now part vampire and has chosen me to lead you. We must make one final stand, my brothers. The vampires will come and they will destroy us unless we remain a united front.

Why has our leader become part vampire?

To avenge his child’s death.

The vampires have slaughtered so many of our pups. We will stand with you again and we will have our revenge. And if you are indeed our new alpha, you have our full support.

Be ready. They will attack before sunset.

Marco burst into the throne room. “The council members have been assassinated and Cora bled dry. There is no sign of Lefou, his team or Gaston,” he informed the group.

Maurice rose from his throne and grabbed his sword from its place on the wall then turned to Emma. “You will take us to where these dogs are hiding and we will destroy them along with those who help them!”

“And Belle?”

“She’s made her bed. Now she must die in it along with her dog lover,” Maurice answered coldly.

“These should help, my lord. They are bullets filled with silver nitrate,” Marco informed the Elder, holding one up. They will not be able to dig them out like the bullets we used in the time you were awake.”

“Excellent. Have the Death Dealers bring every weapon we have. We will need them. Rumplestiltskin mostly likely is anticipating a full scale attack and will be prepared with his own weapons.”

“None of us can survive if we are struck with one of those ultraviolet rounds my lord,” Emma said.

“Then we must try to deplete their supply of them. Assemble the others and those who will not fight will be destroyed,” Maurice snarled.

He was about to learn for himself just how lax his coven had become under the rule of Gaston. There were one hundred vampires living in the mansion and only half of them were willing to join the fight. In a matter of minutes the walls were stained red with the blood of the resistors. After he’d killed all of them Maurice vowed that he would never allow his coven to become so lazy again. Malcolm could stay in hibernation for all eternity as far as he was concerned. It was too risky to awaken him and equally risky to kill him. The lycans, however, were another matter.

Belle’s heart sank when they pulled into the driveway of the mansion. She jumped out of the car and ran into the house, horrified when she could see at least half of their coven dead in the main hall, their blood splattered on the walls and relieved that her favorites were not among them. She turned around and raced back to the car, Rumple pushing the engine as hard as he could to get them back to the lair.

“Here they come!” a young lycan pup named Graham called out from his lookout post.

“How many are there?” his friend Killian asked.

“About fifty or so!”

“Remember….there is a group of them we have to try to take alive and hold the others off until sunrise and can open the solar panels!”

Regina and Robin approached a manhole and tore the cover off. Robin tossed a grenade down into it and it exploded, releasing a spray of silver nitrate that killed the six lycans standing guard underneath it. Regina jumped down into the hole and pulled out one of the guns Marco had given her, shooting two more lycans with bullets loaded with more silver nitrate.

“Now!” she called out. Robin jumped down and was knocked to the ground by a primitive. Regina fired another bullet directly into its skull.

Emma, Snow and David jumped down into another manhole and were surrounded by a half dozen primitives. They decided to split up and hoped the beasts would follow them. Emma raced into one of the caves with two of them in pursuit while the other four pursued David and Snow.

“Regina, behind you!” Robin screamed when a UV round whizzed past her and slammed into the wall behind her. She screamed and backed away as its rays blinded her. He grabbed her and pulled her away from it. Suddenly they were seized by two lycans, quickly disarmed and knocked unconscious.

“Let’s get them upstairs before they wake up,” Graham said to Killian. He nodded and picked up Regina while Graham tossed Robin over his shoulder. Graham pushed a button in the wall and a panel opened that would take them to Rumple’s private quarters in the lair. They dumped the pair of vampires onto the sofa and returned to the tunnels to retrieve the other three before the primitives forgot their orders and made them their next meal.

Rumple was cursing a blue streak. His car overheated and stalled out and they still had a few miles to go before they could reach the hideout and they would not make it fast enough on foot even though they were both stronger than average lycans and vampires.

“Rumple, hold onto me,” Belle instructed, shifting into her hybrid form.

“We’ll never make it time running!”

“We’re not running,” she said, wrapping his arms around her neck. “Now hold on tight!”

She jumped high into the air and flapped her wings. She’d discovered the first time she flew that her wings could propel her faster than her own two feet even after taking lycan blood. They were only airborne a few minutes when Rumple spotted one of the open manhole covers that led down to his lair. Belle swooped down and set her lover on his feet. She shifted back into her human form. They could hear gunshots and jumped down into the tunnels to see David and Snow surrounded by a group of primitives. Rumple shifted into his hybrid form and snarled at them.

I want them alive!

You stink of vampire blood now. We will not listen to you!

Stand down or I will tear you apart!

You are a disgrace to our kind. How could you become one of them?

That is my business. Now stand down!

Never ! If you protect these bloodsuckers, you will die with them.

Bring it on!

The lycans charged at him while David and Snow stared in amazement at the beast that was trying to protect them. He had the features of both a vampire and a lycan.

“Come with me,” Belle pleaded.

“Belle, how could you betray your own kind for that…monster!” Snow demanded. “He’s even so vile he’ll kill his own kind!”

“He’s not a monster. He’s my mate and I love him. I always have. And he’s trying to protect you…for me!”

Rumple grabbed one of the primitives and tore its head from its body before David and Snow’s astonished eyes then glared at the remaining primitives. They drew back in fear and ran away. He shifted back into human form.

“Where are the others?” he demanded of the pair of vampires.

“We got separated.”

“Emma’s scent is not far from here Rumple.”

“I’ll find her. Take these two to my quarters. You should know where it is from my blood memories. Go!”

“Be careful. My father is here…he has to be.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him. He spun around and exited the cave.

“Belle, what….what is he?” David asked. “He has the scent of a vampire and a lycan.”

“He’s a hybrid. Half vampire, half lycan but stronger than both…and he’s not the only one,” Belle murmured, leading them through the tunnels to Rumple’s lair. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found Robin and Regina unconscious on the sofa.

Shit! Emma thought angrily, checking her pockets and realizing she was out of silver nitrate magazines. She pulled out her Glocks and loaded them with standard silver bullets. There were three lycans hot on her trail. She didn’t stand a chance of killing them unless she got close enough to pelt their organs with her bullets and they were closing in on her.

“Papa!” Baelfire cried out and threw his arms around Rumple when he saw him come out of one of the tunnels.

“We’ve got a problem Bae. I’ve lost control of the primitives but they should still obey you. We still have to get Emma to safety and I’ve lost her scent.”

“They’re not listening to me either, Papa. Word’s gotten out that some of us are helping vampires and they’re turning on us! Without them those vampires are going to overrun us.”

“No they’re not! Our numbers are greater than theirs.”

“They’ve got silver nitrate rounds!” he cried.

“What!?”

“I found one of the primitives in the tunnels. He was hit by a round loaded with it.”

“Damned copycats! How much UV ammo do we have left?”

“Probably just enough to take out ten vampires.”

“We have five hours until sunset. We won’t be able to hold them off that long with that few rounds and a rebelling primitive pack. Go find Emma and take her to Belle then I want you to gather up the survivors and get out of here.”

“I don’t want to leave without you!”

“Bae, my only concerns are for your safety, what’s left of this pack, my mate and her children. Now go!” he ordered.

Centuries ago he’d watched Rumple leave them ready to face his death. He feared this time he wouldn’t return. He sniffed the air and caught Emma’s scent. She was in a tunnel not far from he was. He shifted into his lycan form and raced down into it. The blond warrior was attempting to fight off three primitives armed only with a dagger. He jumped onto the first one and tore at its throat, killing it instantly, yelping when the other bit into his shoulder. Emma jumped onto the beast’s back and thrust her dagger into its skull. Baelfire sank to the ground and shifted back into human form.

“W…Why did you help me?” she asked him, kneeling at his side.

He looked up at her and sighed deeply. “Because my father’s not the only lycan willing to risk loving a vampire,” he confessed.

“W…What are you saying?” Emma pressured.

“I…”

They heard the roar of a gun behind them and Bae glanced down at his chest to see a hole in it, pouring out silver nitrate.

“Bet you weren’t expecting to see me, were you?” Gaston sneered.

Emma glared up at him. “I can’t wait to see Maurice rip you apart!”

“Oh really? Let me tell you something about your beloved lord. He’s the one who killed your family, not the lycans. But when he got to you and Snow, he decided to have her turn you…so you could replace her child…the child he wanted killed because it was both vampire and lycan.”

“Liar!”

“Am I. I was there. I kept his secret and cleaned up the mess.”

“I’m going to kill you!” Emma screamed.

“He’s mine!” Rumple raged from behind them. He shifted into his hybrid form and slammed Gaston against the wall, sinking his fangs into the vampire’s neck and twisted it then returned to his human form. The vampire fell to the ground at his feet. “Bae!” Rumple cried, falling to his knees beside his son.

“Take…care of her…Papa…” the lycan said weakly.

“Baelfire….please…” Emma pleaded. “This is my fault. He was trying to save me but I don’t know why!”

“Bite him!” Rumple commanded, seeing in his son’s face the same look he gave Belle…and he’d kept it hidden better than he and Belle had been able to hide their own love. He held onto the hope that turning Bae would counteract the effects of the silver nitrate.

“What?” Emma asked through her tears.

“It’s the only way we can save him,” Rumple said sadly. “Bite him!”

Emma whispered a prayer under her breath and sank her fangs into Baelfire’s neck. As his blood surged through her veins so did his memories of their many confrontations over the years as well as the truth about the long standing feud between the species, fueled by one man’s lies.

Suddenly she was pulled off of Baelfire and thrown against a wall.

“What the hell have you done, girl?” Maurice demanded.

Baelfire screamed and thrashed about violently as his body began to change. Rumple glanced down at his son then looked up at Maurice and smirked.

“They’ve become the monsters you’ve feared so much….but they’re not the only ones,” Rumple declared triumphantly, shifting into his hybrid form and advancing on the Elder, snarling. Behind him he could hear Emma screaming as she too transformed.

“No…it’s not possible…how?” Maurice cried fearfully.

There was a loud crash above them and Belle flew into the room in her own hybrid form.

“A union of the bloodlines, Father!” she declared as she landed in front of him. “And it’s not going to be so easy for you to break this time!”

Maurice sneered. “Oh, isn’t it?” He pulled out his gun and fired a silver nitrate round at Rumple. The bullet buried itself in his shoulder. The silver liquid mixed with blood seeped out of the wound. Rumple bared his fangs at the Elder and leaped at him, tackling him to the ground. Several vampires ran into the room and opened fire on Belle. She took flight.

“What the hell is that?” one of them asked.

She whistled from behind them and knocked their heads together then twisted their necks.

Maurice dragged Rumple into a large puddle of water and was trying to drown him. Belle ran at him and pulled him off her lover.

“I should have left you to burn in the sun centuries ago!” Maurice screamed. “You are a disgrace to your species!”

“No, Father, you are. Did you think I would never find out the truth about my children…about Rumple!?”

“I did what was necessary to protect our species and I will do so again!” he growled and shoved her away from him, looking for his sword. It had been knocked out of his hands during his fight with Rumple. When he didn’t see it, he activated the retractable blades inside his sleeves and approached his daughter and her lover, If silver nitrate and sunlight couldn’t kill them he would cut them to pieces or die trying. He was so focused on the two of them that he didn’t see Emma grab his sword and jump behind him, severing his head from his body with a single stroke.

Rumple rose to his feet and helped Belle up. They shifted back into human form and approached the newest member of their species with caution.

“I’m so sorry Emma,” Belle said softly. “Had I known the truth I never would have….”

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s over,” she said. “Baelfire? Is he…?”

“I’m fine Emma,” he said from the other side of her. There was still a hole in his shoulder from the bullet but there were no traces of the silver nitrate.

“What….what are you…what are we now?” she asked.

“Half vampire, half lycan, but stronger than both, my children,” Rumple answered softly. “You can all come out now!” he called out to the surviving vampires and lycans hiding in the shadows.

“What happens now?” Graham asked.

“This war between our species is over,” Belle declared. “There has been too much bloodshed already. You all have a choice. You can choose to live in peace or fight against us and die.”

“I want peace,” Snow said.

“So do I,” added David.

“You’re all forgetting one thing: Malcolm,” Regina pointed out. “He’s still in hibernation. Will you keep him in it or kill him. If you do, we all die.”

“No you won’t,” Rumple insisted. “That was just a lie told by Malcolm to ensure his longevity. He will remain in hibernation for now. Come…we all have much to discuss…and do.”


	8. Chapter 8

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition  
There's a hunger still unsatisfied  
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon  
Though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener  
The light was brighter  
The taste was sweeter  
The nights of wonder  
With friends surrounded  
The dawn mist glowing  
The water flowing  
The endless river

Forever and ever

~ Pink Floyd – High Hopes ~

 

The centuries old war between the vampires and lycans had finally come to an end with many casualties on both sides. Out of the wreckage a new species emerged; half lycan, half vampire yet stronger than the two, both pairs created out of desperation and still a bond forged between them. For the vampires and lycans who survived the carnage, an uncertain future awaited them. The primitives, no longer willing to obey either of their designated alphas, retreated back to their underground caverns. The vampires still had one Elder to rule them only now they feared they could not trust him and the most likely successor to Maurice was now part lycan. Neither species was ready to choose a new leader, they still had their dead to bury and to sort through the lies they’d been told and heard.

Rumple and Belle watched with heavy hearts as vampires and lycans worked together to bury and honor their dead, grieved that their actions played a major part in starting the war. All they could do now was help the others try to rebuild their lives...if they were allowed to. Some of the survivors of their clans remained loyal to them while the others felt betrayed by them. It would take time to rebuild the broken trust and they had plenty of it.

Most of the members of both species decided to take up residence in the abandoned houses and buildings around Storybrooke while a few left the town days later to start over elsewhere. The mansion where the vampires originally made their home was burned to the ground and the sarcophagus of the last surviving Elder moved to a more secure location, in the basement of the pawnshop.

The first day or so after the war was an even more difficult one for Baelfire and Emma. Emma was still reeling from the three shocks she’d received that day, the first that the story of her family’s demise was a lie, the second that the lycan she hated for the longest time was head over feet in love with her and the third….she was now half lycan and her nonhuman form was not exactly pleasant on the eyes. Baelfire was having trouble accepting that he was now blood dependent. At first he refused to feed until Rumple and Belle warned him of the dangers of not feeding. He fed mostly on synthetic blood but once in a while the blood would not sustain him and he would feed from Rumple’s wrist as Emma was forced to feed from Belle’s. It was one downside to being a hybrid, if they did not feed on whole blood once per month, they would turn feral.

The two young hybrids still refused to address the issue they faced together. Bae’s feelings for her hadn’t changed since the end of the war; they’d only grown stronger while she barely spoke to him. Rumple assured him she would come around eventually.

“She still has some issues to sort through, Bae. The important thing is not to give up on her,” Rumple advised. Belle was attempting to convince Emma to open her heart to love, something the young fledgling rarely did.

“How can you love one of them?” Emma asked her.

“I didn’t want to at first,” Belle admitted. “We grew on each other and even after so many years apart, our love has still survived and is stronger than ever. I’ve lived without him before and I never want to again. Give Bae a chance Emma. You may be surprised.”

Emma took her blood mother’s advice to heart and started spending more time with Bae, though she treated him more like a friend than a lover. It wasn’t what he wanted but it was a start. Even Rumple’s relationship with Belle had a rocky start.

As well as the renegade primitive packs, the residents of Storybrooke knew they had to protect themselves from the humans. The lycans would have a much easier time hiding their true natures as would the hybrids but the vampires would have a more difficult time since they could not come out until darkness fell.

After six months, the vampires and lycans gathered together to announce their decisions as to who would lead their prospective clans. The lycans chose Graham. He’d been the clan’s third in command for centuries and the lycans trusted him completely and Rumple and Bae knew they couldn’t have chosen anyone better to lead them. He was still young but he was intelligent and strong. Belle had her own ideas who should lead the vampires and she couldn’t have been more proud when they chose Regina. The two leaders of the new clans assured each other that they would maintain the peace and punish severely those who threatened it.

“Do you think they can keep the peace between them, Rumple?” Belle asked her mate one evening as they were sitting on the porch of their cabin hideaway.

“They have to,” he answered. “It’s the only way they’ll survive.”

“What about Malcolm? If you believe nothing will happen to the vampires if he dies, why is he still alive? Unless you have your doubts.”

“I do have my doubts,” he confessed. “Which is why I’d rather not risk killing him.” He reached inside his shirt and pulled out the other half of the rose medallion he’d taken from Maurice’s body after the battle. Belle was once again wearing her own portion of it. “And these cannot leave our possession no matter what.”

“They’re useless without the location of Albert’s prison and the only ones who know where it is are dead, aren’t they?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does August?”

“If he does, I doubt he’d ever disclose its location. He fears Albert being released as much as anyone. Being imprisoned for so long will have made him more feral than he was before he was caught and he will stir up the primitives.”

“We’re safe from both of them,” she murmured. “And now I want nothing more than to live a quiet life.”

He chuckled. “You forget what we are, my sweetheart. We’ll never have a completely quiet life.”

“I can hope, can’t I?”

“We all can,” he agreed. He stood up and held 0ut his hand. “Are you ready to turn in?” She entwined her fingers around his and allowed him to escort her back into the cabin.

While Rumple and Belle were at the cabin, they asked Killian and Jefferson to guard Malcolm’s sarcophagus. The vampires showed no interest in reawakening the last surviving Elder but Rumple was taking no chances. The two lycans felt it was better if they just killed the Elder and were done with it but they ran the same risk of extinction if his brother Albert were killed. They’d never encountered the primitive nor did they want to. His offspring were headache enough for them.

They heard noises above them and pulled guns loaded with UV rounds from their holsters and pointed them at the ceiling. Seconds later they heard growling.

“Fuck! Primitives!” Killian cursed. “Jeff, get me a mag of silver nitrate and hurry up!” he yelled. He ejected the magazine with UV rounds and reloaded with one filled with silver nitrate ones, opening fire on the ceiling. The growling got louder and a large claw broke through the ceiling. The primitives tore at the floorboards and jumped down into the basement. Jefferson and Killian turned on them and opened fire, aiming as close as they could at their vital organs. One of the primitives swung its paw and sent Jefferson flying into the opposite wall. He fell to the floor in a heap.

“You okay, mate!” Killian called out.

“Fine…just finish these fuckers!” Jefferson yelled back.

“I’m trying!”

Jefferson picked up his gun and got to his feet, firing several bullets into the head of the primitive closest to him, killing it. Killian shot two more of them. A third lashed at him, cutting deep into his arm and sending a spray of blood onto Malcolm’s sarcophagus. Jefferson turned around and shot it before it could attack a second time, both of them breathing a sigh of relief when the last one died. Killian tore off his jacket and wrapped one of the sleeves around his bleeding arm.

“We gotta go tell Graham about this…and the hybrids,” he said.

“Yeah. What the hell would the primitives want with a mummified vampire?” Jefferson mused.

“I don’t know but maybe they do.” Killian handed him both guns, one filled with UV rounds and the other with silver nitrate bullets. “You going to be okay here until I get back?”

“I should.”

Jefferson sat down at the worktable and took out a deck of cards to play solitaire. He was only two moves into the game when he heard a noise behind him and saw a sight that nearly made him wet his pants. A male hybrid came toward him and thrust the point of one of his wings forward, stabbing the young lycan in the shoulder and throwing him against the wall.

“Where is it?!” he hissed.

“W…Where’s what?” Jefferson asked fearfully.

“The key!” he shouted.

“I don’t have it!” he cried, grabbing his UV gun out of its holster and firing a round into the hybrid’s chest. It howled and dropped him though the round inflicted little damage on him. Jefferson kept firing as he ran out of the basement, the hybrid in pursuit.

“You will give me what I want, dog!” Malcolm sneered, taking flight. Jefferson jumped into his car and floored the gas pedal, dialing Killian on his cellphone.

“Hello?”

“Killian, tell them he’s loose!” Jefferson screamed.

“Who?”

“Malcolm…and he’s a fucking hybrid!”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“I don’t know but he’s after the key!” He glanced through the rearview mirror and saw the hybrid flying towards him. He disconnected his call and slammed on the brakes to stop the car. He leaned out of the driver’s side window and opened fire on the hybrid again. The hybrid swooped down, stabbed him in the chest with the point of his wing and lifted him out of the car, biting him in the neck. Through his blood memories he saw the two halves of the key in the possession of a lycan and a vampire, though both were now hybrids as he was due to exchanging both blood and bite. The blood from the other lycan had been enough to awaken him from his long hibernation but the blood of this one would strengthen him. Once he drained the dog dry, he tossed the corpse aside and took flight again.

Killian reached the cabin ten minutes later, collapsing as soon as Rumple opened the door. He dragged the weakened lycan into the living room and placed him on the sofa.

“Killian, what’s going on?”

“Attacked by primitives….Malcolm’s loose,” he said weakly.

“Fuck!” Rumple cursed. He took out his phone and called Bae. “Bae….you and Emma need to put both species on alert. Malcolm is loose and he is after the key to Albert’s cell.”

“You still have it, right?” Bae asked.

“Rumple…INCOMING!” Belle shouted, smashing the cabin window and pointing her guns out at the hybrid flying toward the cabin. The bullets wouldn’t kill him but they would at least slow him down and if she hit him enough, he would bleed out enough that it would weaken him.

Rumple hung up the phone and took his position at the other window, pelting the hybrid with bullets from his own guns. “Reload!” he shouted at Killian. The lycan crawled off the sofa and grabbed a bag filled with loaded magazines. He tossed them at the two hybrids and took out his gun.

“How’s this gonna do any good?” he shouted over the roar of the guns.

“If we bleed him enough he’ll have to feed to restore his strength!” Rumple answered.

“You sure?”

“He’s part vampire and still blood dependent,” Belle reminded him. You bleed any of us out enough, we weaken. Come in guys…he’s retreating !”

“Last ones!” Killian informed them, tossing them four more magazines. Rumple slammed them into his guns and ran outside with Belle close at his heels. They aimed at the hybrid hovering above them, their bullets slamming into his chest. Malcolm screeched and flew away.

“He’ll be back,” Rumple said grimly.

“What the hell are we going to do now, Rumple? If we kill him, we run the risk of killing all the vampires but we just can’t let him loose.”

“I know and it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than ten mags full of bullets to bring him down.”

Belle touched her medallion. “And we have to make sure he can’t get his hands on these.”

“Even if he gets them, he doesn’t know where Albert’s prison is, does he?” Killian asked them.

“No, but there’s one person who might.” Rumple said. “And that’s who he’ll be after next.”

“August,” Belle whispered. “We have to get to him before that thing does.”

Rumple helped the exhausted Killian into the backseat of the Cadillac and drove back to town. Emma and Bae already had all the vampires and lycans assembled at the town hall and informed them of the unfortunate turn of events.

“The only way we have of stopping Malcolm without killing him is keeping him bled out until he is finally forced to go into hibernation again,” Rumple informed them.

“So that’s the only solution you have?” Regina asked angrily.

“It’s the only one that will ensure your survival!” he shouted. He was quickly losing patience with these younger generations of vampires and lycans who were too hot headed for their own good.

“We will track him ourselves since we can pick up his scent easier than any of you can,” Bae spoke up, indicating himself, Emma, Belle and Rumple. Graham, Regina, you should have enough weapons and fighters between your clans to hold off any primitive attacks.”

“We should be going with you,” Snow said.

“It’s too dangerous for you,” Emma told her. “And since none of you have any desire to be turned, this is how it has to be.”

“Then we’ll keep watch here,” Graham vowed.

Minutes later two of their scouts returned carrying Jefferson’s mangled body. Killian was horrified. He and Jefferson had been best friends since they were pups and losing him was like losing an arm. “He can turn into one of you now…can’t he?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” Rumple confessed sadly. “He’s almost been torn to pieces…regeneration is impossible.”

“I never should’ve left him alone!” he snarled. “I’ll kill that bloodsucker!”

“You can’t!” Bae reminded him and embraced him. “Jefferson’s death will be avenged. I swear to you it will be!”

“Then kill that bastard!”

“I will…if we can.”

“Bae…”

“No, Papa. We have to find a way. If we don’t, how many more of us will die at his hands…or Albert’s?”

“Bae’s right, Rumple,” Emma agreed. She didn’t love the lycan she now shared a connection to but they were becoming friends and she knew how losing a member of the pack hurt him. She felt the same when they lost one of their own.

It was a somber day for both clans as they stood out in the woods after sundown and held a service for the fallen lycan. He’d been cremated according to their laws and in their eyes, died a hero because he’d managed to warn them of Malcolm’s escape and give them time to prepare for the bitter battle that was yet to come.

The four hybrids felt it best if they split up. Belle and Rumple would travel to England where August was exiled and Emma and Bae would return to Budapest where they’d all lived during Maurice’s reign as Elder.

“Be careful,” Rumple said softly and embraced the younger hybrid. The four of them stood at the town line in front of Rumple and Emma’s cars. He handed Bae an envelope with plane tickets, some credit cards, passports and currency so they could pass for humans once they ventured past the town line.

“You too, Papa. I’ll let you know if we find him.”

“And don’t give up on her, Bae. She just needs time, that’s all.” He glanced over to where Belle stood with Emma.

“You and Bae have to learn to trust each other now more than ever,” she advised her young charge. “And that includes being willing to feed from each when you need to. I know you have an issue with that at the moment there will come a time when it will be your only option because you do not want feeding from humans on your conscience.” Belle embraced the young woman. “Just…take care of each other…” she pleaded.

“We will.” Emma assured her.

Rumple and Belle got into the Cadillac, Emma and Bae in a yellow Volkswagen Bug and drove to the airport. Their prospective flights took off an hour later, one bound for England, the other for Hungary while further back in the sky an ancient vampire pursued them propelled by his own wings.


End file.
